Officials in Cork are surveying the damage following a major blaze at Douglas Village Shopping Centre yesterday evening.
12 fire appliances attended the scene from across Cork City and County, after a car caught fire in a multi-storey car park.
The centre was quickly evacuated and there were no injuries.
The fire has been extinguished, but crews remain at the scene this morning to monitor the building and continue dampening down efforts.
Gardaí said a large number of parked cars were damaged or destroyed and significant damage has been caused to the building.
They're due to examine the scene once the structure has been deemed safe.
Photos shared by Cork City Fire Brigade showed rows of damaged cars - noting that the fire was contained to one section of cars.
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
Following the blaze, the shopping centre said it will not be able to open on Sunday.
Local Councillor Deirdre Forde said it's a dreadful blow for Douglas village.
She said: "I've been speaking with a few of the businesses, and they are utterly devastated.
"I will be asking the chief executive of Cork City Council to come out and meet with us in Douglas Village, to see what we now can do to assist in the aftermath of this terrible situation."
Tánaiste and local TD Simon Coveney thanked emergency services for their work, and said he hoped the shopping centre would be able to reopen soon.
Thank u to all the emergency services for their work last night. Very difficult for all businesses affected in Douglas - let’s hope @douglasvillage will be open as normal very soon. https://t.co/p3vzZRDwwI
— Simon Coveney (@simoncoveney) September 1, 2019
