Dungannon farm blaze killed 1,000 pigs: Farming family 'completely devastated' says local councillor

​A Northern Irish farming family have been left "completely devastated" after losing around 1,000 piglets in a farmyard fire.

The Fire Service said they were alerted to the incident on the Gorey Road, Dungannon, at 9.30pm on Saturday, with firefighters not leaving the scene until 12.31am.

Fire appliances were mobilised from Dungannon, Pomeroy, Cookstown, Portadown, Omagh and Dungiven to tackle the blaze. Firefighters used breathing apparatus, water and foam jets to extinguish the fire.

"Sadly a number of livestock (pigs) died at the incident and the cause of the fire is still being investigated,” said group commander Declan Rodgers.

Local DUP councillor Mark Robinson said that around 80 sows were in the shed with their young litters, giving a total of around 1,000 animals.

"I went up on Saturday and the family's completely devastated," he told NationalWorld's sister title the News Letter.

"Even the children in the house - some of the piglets were theirs. They are absolutely devastated by it.. It's a massive blow, it is their livelihood, their bread and butter. It creates an awful lot of problems for them as they have more sows due to give birth next week and so are now trying to find accommodation for them."

Mr Robinson said the alarm was raised by some young men driving past who did not even know the family. However by the time they got out to the shed it was already well ablaze and it was impossible to enter the building, he said.

"The Fire Service were there in good time but there was absolutely nothing they could do."

There were between 10 to 15 fire appliances at the scene and a digger was also used to help get water into the shed itself.

"The farmer says it's just hard to come to terms with when they walk into the yard," Mr Robinson said. "He says there's no noise, just a deafening silence like you know, which is not normal."

It will cost some £700,000 to replace the animals and building he said, with the building alone costing around £500,000.

However, while the farmer is insured, this will probably not cover his loss of earnings or the cost of having to rent temporary premises, he said.

"Plus this is probably a second or third generation family farm with a lot of good bloodlines in their pigs. So it will take them a long time to build this up again.

The councillor believes it was most likely accidental.

"I think somewhere around five or six of these houses have gone up in fire in the last number of years in Northern Ireland," he said. Such sheds have to be kept well heated for the piglets and also have to be well insulated.

"So it can be an almost perfect environment for a fire," he added.

He said the Fire Service had to access a fire hydrant several hundred metres away near a local Orange Hall. The nearby hydrant had been covered over, he said, which he warned could have had tragic consequences if repeated elsewhere.