![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/1744582270_545_0bf773b1-1f72-4352-8c3f-ce8935d4349c.jpg\")
<\/p>\nDanny Baker said on Sunday evening that the fire service have again been attacked at the Colin Glen Forest Park.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is unacceptable and dangerous behaviour, those responsible are taking up value time of firefighters by lighting fires,\u201d he stated. <\/p>\n
\u201cDamaging the fire appliance can also result in that much needed vehicle being off the road.<\/p>\n
\u201cI will do all I can in the days and weeks ahead to bring this reckless behaviour to an end.<\/p>\n
\u201cThose behind this are putting our whole community at risk, but particularly those living along the boundary of Glengoland.\u201d<\/p>\n
Firefighters and PSNI officers responding to a fire in the same area on Saturday night also came under attack from a group of youths. <\/p>\n
A crew from the Northern Ireland Fire and Rescue Service (NIFRS) and PSNI officers were dispatched yesterday following reports of a large fire at Colin Glen Forest Park.<\/p>\n
On arrival, they were pelted with stones by a group of youths and were forced to retreat for their safety. The PSNI managed to disperse the crowd of young people. <\/p>\n
PSNI officers then discovered that flammable material had been brought into the forest park. <\/p>\n
Posting on Facebook a PSNI spokesperson said: \u201cThis evening (Saturday) colleagues in the Northern Ireland Fire and Rescue Service (NIFRS) answered multiple calls from members of the public concerned about a large fire in the Colin Glen Forest Park.<\/p>\n
“On arrival the fire service were stoned and withdrew to prevent personal injury.<\/p>\n
\u201cOfficers from West Belfast Neighbourhood Policing Team attended a short time later and dispersed a crowd of juveniles.<\/p>\n
“Police discovered flammable material brought into the forest park, which had been used to set the fire.\u201d <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
A NIFRS crew was attacked after responding to calls about a large fire in the Colin Glen Forest Park (Picture: Police West Belfast)<\/p>\n
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SDLP councillor Paul Doherty also condemned the incident and urged for attacks on emergency services to end. <\/p>\n
\u201cI am making a plea today for these attacks to stop,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n
“While the fire service are responding to incidents like this their attention is being diverted from more deserving matters. <\/p>\n
“I would also urge local parents to talk to their young people and ensure they are not engaging in this kind of activity. <\/p>\n
“Nobody wants to see a young person end up with a criminal record, but these attacks need to stop immediately for the fire service to be allowed to carry out their important work without fear of being subject to this. This has to end now.\u201d <\/p>\n
Sinn Fein councillor, Soibhan McCallin, also urged parents to make sure their children aren\u2019t involved with anti-social behaviour in the area. <\/p>\n
“We appeal to parents, if they smell smoke\/fire off their children to please explain the dangers associated with these fires. <\/p>\n
“The forest, it\u2019s eco system and wildlife are at serious risk. The anti community behaviour takes away from the positivity we have to celebrate and be proud of about our much loved west Belfast. <\/p>\n
“This is a small minority of youth engaging in this and is not reflective of the majority of our young people.\u201d<\/p>\n
This isn\u2019t the first time the PSNI have reported anti-social behaviour in Colin Glen Forrest Park. <\/p>\n
Posting on their Facebook page earlier this month a PSNI spokesperson shared images of \u2018expensive\u2019 damage caused in the area. <\/p>\n
“With today\u2019s great weather West Belfast Neighbourhood Policing Officers had a walk along the path in the Colin Glen Forest Park,\u201d they said.<\/p>\n
“The Officers came across a 40-50 year old tree.<\/p>\n
“As you can see in the past several days someone has took it upon themselves to set a fire and burn it. The tree is now unsafe and may need removed.<\/p>\n
“This will be expensive and is a terrible look when you visit the path for a walk.<\/p>\n
“The river path lies on private ground and when the gates are locked there is no public access \u2013 if you are present you are trespassing.\u201d <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Danny Baker said on Sunday evening that the fire service have again been attacked at the Colin Glen…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":17611,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5011],"tags":[2378,1144,1610,16,15,6110],"class_list":{"0":"post-17610","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-northern-ireland","8":"tag-belfast","9":"tag-northern-ireland","10":"tag-police-service-of-northern-ireland","11":"tag-uk","12":"tag-united-kingdom","13":"tag-west-belfast-news"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114332951209693292","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17610","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=17610"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17610\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/17611"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17610"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17610"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17610"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}