DETECTIVES are now treating a massive fire which broke out on Sunday at the disused Herdmans Mill factory in Sion Mills as deliberate.
They have now launched an arson investigation and are appealing for anyone with information about who started the blaze to come forward.
It took the Fire and Rescue Service around seven hours to bring the blaze under control.
Crews were drafted in from Derry city, Co Derry, Strabane, Fermanagh, and Co Tyrone.
In a statement, the NIFRS said today: “We received a call at 2.12 pm on Sunday 11thOctober 2015 to a large fire at the disused Herdmans Mill in Sion Mills.
“This was a significant fire and a protracted incident with 63 Firefighters, 9 Fire Appliances (two from Strabane, two from Crescent Link, one from Newtownstewart, Castlederg x 1, Fintona x 1, Dungiven x 1, Irvinestown x 1).
“A specialist high reach Aerial Appliance was brought in from Northland Station in Derry and a High Volume Pump from Omagh Station plus a Command Support Vehicle (Irvinestown) at the scene.
“Fire ground support was received from the Volunteers from the Fire and Emergency Support Service based at Portstewart Fire Station.
“The fire started in the central ground floor area of the disused factory and quickly spread to involve the entire ground floor of the building an area of approx. 50m x 30m.
“Firefighters worked hard to contain the fire and prevented the fire from spreading to other parts of the building.
“The fire was brought under control from 8 pm.
“A fire appliance remained at the scene to dampen down hot spots.
“The incident finished at 9.41 pm and the scene was handed over to PSNI.
“The cause of the fire is still under investigation.”
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