Car showroom 'gutted' and vehicles destroyed by fire

Firefighters are at the scene of a fire at a car showroom near Garvagh, County Londonderry.

At the height of the blaze, about 55 firefighters were at the incident on the Carhill Road, which involved the showroom and a cafe.

The Northern Ireland Fire and Rescue Service (NIFRS) said it believed the fire was deliberate.

NIFRS western area commander David Doherty said the fire had now been extinguished, but firefighters were still dealing with hotspots.

He said the building had been "completely gutted", with six cars destroyed and four others damaged by heat and smoke.

The fire service was called to the incident at about 04:30 BST on Wednesday.

Doherty told BBC Radio Foyle's North West Today programme that when the first crews arrived at the scene, the fire was already "well-developed".

He described it as "quite a large operation".

At the height of the blaze, six fire appliances were in attendance, along with a command support unit and a water tanker.

Doherty said that due to the large scale of the dealership which also includes the cafe, crews had to deal with multiple hazards, including cylinders, oils and aerosols.

"Unfortunately, the vehicles and the contents in the building and some of the surrounding vehicles were destroyed, so this will be a big loss to the local economy," he said.

NIFRS will now move on to the fire investigation to determine the cause of the fire.

DUP councillor Michelle Knight-McQuillan said the fire had left two businesses "completely devastated".

"There will be loss of jobs and loss of business; it's just such a blow here," she said.

"I spoke to the cafe owner this morning and, as you can imagine, they are just in a complete state of shock.

"Imagine getting up in the morning ready to go to work and then picking up your phone and finding messages like that. It must just be an absolute blow.

"Everything is completely gone and, at the minute, they just don't know what they're going to do. I just feel so sorry for them."