Woman dies in house fire

Fire crews attended the blaze

A woman in her 60s has died in a house fire in County Antrim.

It happened in the Drumhoy Drive area of Carrickfergus shortly before 0330 BST on Saturday.

An investigation has begun to in an attempt to find out what caused the fire.

Tommy Dowds, assistant area commander with the Fire Brigade, said the alarm was raised by a neighbour who spotted the fire on the ground floor of the house.

"Fire crews immediately mounted an offensive attack on the fire - brought the fire under control and extinguished it.

"In the process of doing that, they discovered the elderly resident of that house had become involved in the fire. Regrettably, she lost her life," said Mr Dowds.

'Reduce risk'

The latest house fatality comes after a call by the head of the Fire Brigade in Northern Ireland for people to be aware of the risk of fire ahead of the firefighters' strike.

Firefighters across the UK are due to begin industrial action on Tuesday as part of their campaign for a 40% pay rise.

Acting Chief Fire Officer Peter Craig outlined precautions he said he wanted the public and businesses to take to help reduce the risk of fires.

"Inside the coming days, important and potentially life-saving fire safety advice will be sent to homes and workplaces in Northern Ireland," he said.

Emergency cover backed by the Army will be available from next Tuesday until Thursday.

Earlier this week, a 90-year-old woman died in a blaze at her County Antrim house.

Elizabeth Graham, 90, died in the fire which was destroyed her home on the Ballykennedy Road near Nutts Corner.