Gardai are treating as "suspicious" the outbreak of a fire early yesterday at a training centre for people with intellectual disabilities in Gort, Co Galway.
No one was injured in the blaze at the Orchard Training Centre, which was reported shortly after 4 a.m. yesterday, but seven people staying in a neighbouring house had to be evacuated.
Several people attending a local disco assisted with the evacuation, as fire brigade units from Gort and Loughrea tried to extinguish the fire.
The building was gutted, and gardaí from Galway city and Gort sealed off the scene for technical examination. Orchard Centre is part of the Brothers of Charity services in Co Galway, and provides a rehabilitative and training programme for 49 men and women with intellectual disabilities.
Several of the trainees were almost inconsolable yesterday on viewing their workshop which was completely destroyed.
Some 36 staff in Gort are employed in the centre and its associated community group homes.
Among the 36 is Mrs Anne Hehir, the house parent who had to rouse seven trainees in the neighbouring building from their beds at 4.30 a.m. Mr Derek Smith, the centre's manager, paid tribute to the local young men and women who notified the emergency services, and the three people returning from a disco who helped to move the residents to safety.
Mrs Hehir's house had practised five fire drills last year.
The building was constructed in 1981, with funding from the Department of Health and Children, and is insured. A structural engineer is due to the examine the premises, but Mr Patrick McGinley, director of services at the Brothers of Charity, said that temporary accommodation for the trainees was the priority.