Woman dies in Bangor house fire

A man has been arrested after a woman died in a fire at her flat in the early hours of this morning.

The woman – who has not yet been named – was found dead by firefighters at the flat in the Kilcooley area of Bangor. She was in her thirties.

Armed service personnel on duty at the time of the incident raced to the scene and were joined at the scene by striking firefighters. The emergency services suspected that the blaze was started deliberately and a man was arrested this afternoon. There are no further details at moment.

The death is the first in Northern Ireland since the beginning of the eight-day fire strike which started last Friday.

Meanwhile, crucial talks aimed at resolving funding problems in the firefighters' pay dispute were set to continue for a second day between the Fire Brigade Union (FBU) and the government.

Negotiations are likely to centre on the savings that would be made from the modernisation that the government says must be linked with a pay deal.

However, the big talking point of the day was over the suggestion by Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott that up to 11,000 firefighter jobs could be axed as part of a process of reform. Whilst the government said that there would not be any redundancies, Mr Prescott said that early retirements in the service provided "ample opportunity to discuss more efficient utilisation of labour".

It is currently estimated that a 16% rise for firefighters would cost an estimated £180 million, bringing the annual bill for firefighters' pay to £1.2 billion.

The striking FBU firefighters will return to work at 9am on Saturday morning.

(MB)