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Dunmurry fire: Three families left homeless | |
(about 7 hours later) | |
Three families have been left homeless after a large fire spread through several houses on the outskirts of Belfast, causing a oil tank explosion. | |
It is believed the blaze started in a garden shed in Sunnyhill Park, Dunmurry at 03:50 BST and spread to surrounding homes. | |
It gutted three homes, causing two roofs to collapse, but no-one was hurt. | |
The families whose houses have been destroyed include a married couple who had just returned from honeymoon. | |
At the height of the blaze, 60 firefighters and eight fire appliances were involved in bringing the oil-fuelled blaze under control. | |
'Inferno' | |
About 3,000 litres of home heating oil caught fire as the flames spread to four oil tanks. | |
Twelve homes had to be evacuated during the early hours of the morning. | |
Local resident John McGill told the BBC he was woken by "sounds like explosions". | |
"I looked out the window and the night sky was lit up, literally," he added. | |
"We were very worried then, it was like an inferno." | |
Mr McGill and his neighbours left their houses and waited for fire crews to arrive. | |
"I think they were gobsmacked at the extent of the fire," he said. | |
Northern Ireland Fire and Rescue Service (NIFRS) area commander Kevin O'Neill described it as "quite a complex fire". | |
"We were called initially to a shed on fire," he said. | "We were called initially to a shed on fire," he said. |
"The shed fire spread to a fence and then to an oil tank which ruptured. | "The shed fire spread to a fence and then to an oil tank which ruptured. |
"The oil from that oil tank flowed across the back of several properties, setting fire to other oil tanks, causing partial roof collapse on two properties," the fire officer said. |