'They were welcome,' Tipp hotel praised for taking in victims of Clonmel apartment fire

A major disaster and serious loss of life was averted in Clonmel on Thursday night last due to the heroic response of gardaí, fire service personnel, and the ambulance service after 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 the apartment complex.

Residents were standing on their balconies appealing for help to the gardaí 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.

“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 gardaí 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 gardaí, 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 gardaí 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 gardaí, and an examination of the building by scenes of crime specialists started on Friday morning.

Sgt Moran said the investigation into the fire is ongoing.

He said that gardaí had not determined at this stage if there was anything untoward, and the investigation would continue.

“The gardaí are appealing to any witnesses to come forward and make themselves known to the gardaí.

“We are asking anybody who drove up that area between 6pm and 9pm on Thursday evening to come forward with dashcam footage if they have it,” said Sgt Moran.

The Mayor of Clonmel Cllr Cllr Pat English said everybody was indebted to all of the emergency services that responded to the call last Thursday evening.

“It was fantastic to get everyone out safely and I want to thank each and every one of the people that responded so quickly and professionally,” said Cllr English.

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

“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 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. Jason Crotty, who lives nearby, said he could hear a lot going on outside where he lives.

“There was a lot of panic. I could see people on their balconies waving and shouting down onto the street.

“The emergency services arrived very quickly. The people inside the building continued to wave from their balconies to let the emergency services see where they were. The fire brigade people started to rescue people and bring them out through the smoke and out the front door. It was a huge operation.”

Jason said they knew one of the residents who decided to go and stay with friends once they were out of the building.

Of the 25 people evacuated, nine people were accommodated overnight at Raheen House Hotel who offered their services after hearing about the fire.

“They were very welcome. We were very happy to put them up overnight. They all felt very safe here after what they had been through and that was the most important thing. We were very glad to help out,” said a spokesperson for Raheen House Hotel.