Northern Ireland- 16th July 2015- Fire Service at the scene of a major fire on Bishop Street in Derry City Centre, The Poundstretcher was well alight with over 40 Firefighters battling the blaze, NIFRS took the call at 1.40am and continue to fight the fire into the early hours of the morning, at this stage there is no indication of the cause of the blaze. Pic Steven McAuley/McAuley Multimedia
FIREFIGHTERS are continuing to dampen a blaze which has destroyed Poundstretcher in Derry with the loss of 15 jobs.
The Fire and Rescue Service was alerted around 1.30am today after a fire alarm went off at the shop at Bishop Street.
It’s understood 100 gas canisters were inside the building at the time and exploded.
The fire service said officers had stopped the blaze spreading to premises on either side of the building.
Group commander Colm McGuigan said “substantial damage” has been caused to the building.
“One fire crew attended to a fire that looked harmless at first,” said Mr McGuigan.
“But a fully developed fire was going on behind the shutters of the shop.
“There were eight crews at the scene at one time, then three other crews arrived.
“This is a four-storey building and our main focus was to make sure that this fire didn’t spread.
“We don’t know how exactly it happened. An investigation will start.
“The Poundstretcher store has suffered substantial damage along with a warehouse on Magazine Street.
“Gas canisters and barbeque coals were exploding, popping and burning for hours.”
Members of staff were in tears there this morning.
“They are very upset and distraught,” said town centre manager Jim Roddy.
“Some of them were outside the building when it was on fire this morning and they were just watching their workplace disappear.
“We have to pay tribute to the fire service. We could have lost a lot more businesses here. We hope the city centre gets back to normal later.”
Northern Ireland- 16th July 2015- Fire Service at the scene of a major fire on Bishop Street in Derry City Centre, The Poundstretcher was well alight with over 40 Firefighters battling the blaze, NIFRS took the call at 1.40am and continue to fight the fire into the early hours of the morning, at this stage there is no indication of the cause of the blaze. Pic Steven McAuley/McAuley Multimedia
Northern Ireland- 16th July 2015- Fire Service at the scene of a major fire on Bishop Street in Derry City Centre, The Poundstretcher was well alight with over 40 Firefighters battling the blaze, NIFRS took the call at 1.40am and continue to fight the fire into the early hours of the morning, at this stage there is no indication of the cause of the blaze. Pic Steven McAuley/McAuley Multimedia
