Tributes paid to Tipperary emergency services for their heroic response to apartment fire

A major disaster and serious loss of life were averted in Clonmel on Thursday night due to the heroic response of gardai, fire service personnel, and the ambulance service at a fire at a residential complex.

25 people were evacuated from the building at Manor House at Bridge Street in Clonmel on Thursday evening after a fire broke out at an apartment complex.

Residents were standing on their balconies appealing for help to the gardai and the fire service personnel as they could not safely exit the building themselves because of the levels of smoke filling the hallways in the apartment block.

“A major disaster was averted due to the rapid response from all of the emergency services and the community,” said Sgt Seamus Moran.

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“A dangerous amount of smoke filled the hallways of the building and people were prevented from leaving safely until the fire services were able to carry out the evacuation operation,” said Sgt Moran.

Sgt Moran said gardai were called to the scene at around 8.15 pm on Thursday evening.

“The fire appears to have started inside the building, and the cause of the fire is undetermined as yet. The emergency services were there very quickly, including the gardai, the fire service, and there were five ambulances at the scene,” said Sgt Moran.

Sgt Moran said 25 people were evacuated from the apartments and were triaged by the medics at the scene. Five of those were treated for smoke inhalation and did not require hospitalisation.

“This was an excellent example of interagency co-operation; nobody was seriously injured, and there was no loss of life, which ultimately is the outcome you want. There was an excellent response, and the gardai cannot speak highly enough of the professional manner in which the emergency services dealt with the situation,” said Sgt Moran.

After the building was evacuated, the building was retained by the gardai, and an examination of the building by scenes of crime specialists started on Friday morning.

Sgt Moran said the investigation into the fire was ongoing. He said that gardai had not determined at this stage if there was anything untoward, and the investigation would continue.

“The gardai are appealing to any witnesses to come forward and make themselves known to the gardai. We are asking anybody who drove up that area between 6 pm and 9 pm on Thursday evening to come forward with dashcam footage if they have it,” said Sgt Moran.

Cllr Richie Molloy paid tribute to the gardai, the fire service and the ambulance service who attended the scene of the fire.

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“All of the emergency services were on the scene very quickly. There were no fatalities, thank God, but it is a stark reminder of the tough situations that our fire service comes across. We only had a tragedy in Clonmel, where a local man lost his life in a house fire in the last week. We are so lucky that a major, major disaster was averted thanks to the response of the emergency services,” said Cllr Richie Molloy.