British Broadcasting Corporation

Page last updated at 14:59 GMT, Saturday, 12 July 2008 15:59 UK

Fire crews called out to bonfires

Bonfire
Revellers celebrate alongside a bonfire in Roden Street, Belfast

Firefighters were called out to deal with 49 incidents as hundreds of eleventh-night bonfires were lit across Northern Ireland.

Four derelict properties caught fire in Ballymacarret, east Belfast.

Heat from bonfires damaged Woodstock Library in east Belfast and a house in Glengormley.

Fire crews came under attack in counties Antrim and Londonderry. Stones were thrown in four incidents but no injuries were reported.

Every year bonfires are lit on the night before the Twelfth of July Orange parades, which mark the anniversary of the 1690 battle of the Boyne in which William of Orange defeated King James.

The number of incidents dealt with by firefighters was down on last year.

Meanwhile, an Orange hall was scorch-damaged in an arson attack in Rasharkin, County Antrim.

Paint was also thrown at the front of the hall.

Later on Saturday, a bomb alert in the town delayed local Orangemen's parade for several hours. The device was later declared a hoax.



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