The incident marks the 16th fatal house fire in 2025
Stock Image: Firefighters attended the incident
A man in his 40s has died following a house fire in Co Antrim, police have confirmed.
Emergency services were called to the scene in the Waring Street area of Ballymena on Boxing Day morning.
“Police can confirm that a man aged in his 40s has died following a fire at a house in the Waring Street area of Ballymena, on Friday December 26,” said a PSNI spokesperson.
“Police received a report of the fire shortly before 9.45am on Friday morning, and attended alongside colleagues from other emergency services but, sadly, the man was pronounced dead at the scene.
“Enquiries into the circumstances surrounding the fire are ongoing, however, at this stage the death is not being treated as suspicious.”
The NI Fire and Rescue Service (NIFRS) has been approached for comment.
The incident brings the number of fatal house fires in Northern Ireland this year to sixteen, with the number more than tripling from last year’s figure of just five.
Earlier this month, four people were killed in house fires in a single weekend, prompting the fire service to issue a reminder urging people to be diligent over the threat posed.
“None of us want to be sitting and having these sorts of conversations, we want to avoid it from happening in the first place,” said NIFRS Area Commander Suzanne Fleming.
“We know society has more and more electronic devices in their homes and a lot of people are overloading sockets and plugging a lot of things in.
Stock Image: Firefighters attended the incident
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“Sometimes people who already have overloaded sockets will overload them even more with Christmas lights.
“Then they’re not going through a bedtime routine, making it safe, unloading and unplugging all of those or isolating the electrics to those. We’re asking people to be a bit more diligent.”