Engineers will this morning assess the damage caused by a major fire at a Cork shopping centre over the weekend.
Up to 200 cars remain trapped in the multi-story car park at the Douglas Shopping Centre following the blaze on Saturday.
The centre remains closed and management said they are working up a plan to remove all the cars from the car-park and return them to their owners.
This morning, Cork City Fire Brigade (CCFB) released a video showing the extent of the damage.
Footages shows the extent of the damage to cars, the structure of the building and the conditions and heat f/f’s were faced with when they entered the building
On scene we had
7 Pumping Appliances
3 Platforms
2 Control Units
1 WaterTanker
Over 40 f/f from City & @corkcountyfire pic.twitter.com/u0l3N5JWcA— Cork City Fire Brigade (@CorkCityFire) September 1, 2019
On Newstalk Breakfast, the manager of the shopping centre said the blaze began after an Opel Zafira burst into flames in the car park.
He said up to 60 cars were damaged - with many completely burnt out.
“Getting those cars back to their owners is the key item for us at the moment,” he said.
“The problem is that we know they won’t be able to drive them out so we looked at alternatives yesterday but when we lost access to the building, that made it a little more complicated.”
CCFB said more than 40 firefighters, two control units, seven pumping appliances and a water tanker were sent to the scene.
MORNING AFTER: Crews are still at scene this morning in Douglas making up equipment and monitoring the building
Fire was contained to 1 section of burned out cars on 1 floor of the Multi-storey car park. The photos below show the extent to the grim reality of the morning after pic.twitter.com/79qKEbvhK8— Cork City Fire Brigade (@CorkCityFire) September 1, 2019
Eddie Hogan, whose car was in the car park when the fire broke out, praised the staff response.
“My car was on Level One where the fire started so it is still there today,” he said.
“I have seen the photographs and I have been on to the manager of the complex - himself and the rest of the staff, they were phenomenal.
“All the staff just quickly but very calmly got everyone out; I’d say in about three or four minutes.”
UPDATE: Large Fire in Douglas Shopping Centre, several units from around the city in attendance.
Crews working very hard in heavy smoke and fire conditions to contain fire 🔥 🚒
⚠️ Please avoid the area to allow crews to access the building ⚠️#corkfire pic.twitter.com/F9P9Bk3zRc— Cork City Fire Brigade (@CorkCityFire) August 31, 2019
