Firefighters tackle blaze at former Thornhill College site in Derry - Londonderry

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Wednesday, 22 May 2019 06:19

By David Hunter

Q Radio news

Fire fighters last night tackled a deliberate fire at a disused school in Derry-Londonderry.

Five fire appliances tackled the blaze in the roof of the old Thornhill School on the city’s Culmore Road, the school which inspired the hit TV show 'Derry Girls'.

Fire Service Group Commander Andy Burns told QRadio the fire was set deliberately and urged young people to stay away from the dangerous building.

"The building has been accessed by youths, we believe. We would encourage people not to do that, so we can leave our resources available for real emergencies" , he said.

"It's not badly damaged and we were able to react very very quickly and bring the fire under control within a short time, probably fifteen to twenty minutes."

"We would ask our young people to stay away from these types of buildings.

"They are dangerous. They're not safe, and when they set deliberate fires like this it takes us away from the people who do need us within our community. "