Retail premises fire was second in two months

The fire that destroyed an Ennis retail premises yesterday causing an estimated €3 million in damage was the second to have occurred at the same building in the past eight weeks.

Surveying the wreckage of his hardware business on Station Road yesterday, where 10 people were employed, owner Gerry Bredin said it was "peculiar" that two fires would have occurred in such a short space of time.

Last night, residents of 11 homes in the Ard na Greine area of Ennis, Co Clare, were asked to vacate their homes overnight to facilitate the clean-up of the site, which contained asbestos from the collapsed roof of the hardware store.

The residents were first evacuated from their homes yesterday morning, over fears that the blaze could engulf houses in the area, and were allowed back when the fire was under control. However, the residents were contacted by local authority staff yesterday evening and asked to evacuate again.

Mr Bredin said he hoped his business would not suffer too much disruption.

"It is only cement and mortar and hopefully we can be up and running again in a few weeks. No one was hurt and there was no loss of life and that is the main thing."

He said it had never been established conclusively how the first fire some weeks ago had been started.

"We had only just got over that fire and to be faced with another fire? I'm 35 years in business and never experienced anything like it. The place was locked up on Tuesday evening and everything was fine."

Mr Bredin said firefighters had done "a fantastic job" but there was a possibility that part of his business could have been saved if better water pressure was present in the area early yesterday morning.

"There was a half an hour shortly after the fire service got here where the firemen tried to access water from maybe 10 different points and were successful in only a few."

Fine Gael TD Joe Carey said water pressure was not up to adequate levels in the town and could be hindering the fire services in their work.

Mr Carey believed lives could be endangered as a result.