Northern Ireland

Firefighters battle Castlewellan forest fire

 NIFRSSouth handout photo from the Twiiter feed of @nifrssouth of a large forest fire in Castlewellan, Co Down.
 NIFRSSouth handout photo from the Twiiter feed of @nifrssouth of a large forest fire in Castlewellan, Co Down.  NIFRSSouth handout photo from the Twiiter feed of @nifrssouth of a large forest fire in Castlewellan, Co Down.

Firefighters have been battling a large forest fire in Co Down.

The blaze in Castlewellan has been burned since Friday morning.

The fire has swept over a large area of gorse and forest.

On Saturday afternoon, around 50 firefighters continued to tackle the flames.

Seven pumping units were in attendance, along with a command unit and supervisory officers.

A specialist wildfire response team and specialist rescue team were also involved.

South Down MP Chris Hazzard praised the efforts.

He tweeted: “Huge credit to @NIFRSOFFICIAL for their ongoing efforts in battling wild fire outside Castlewellan”