Residents forced to evacuate as blaze guts warehouse

A RAGING fire gutted an industrial blinds and shutters warehouse in Co Cork yesterday and forced the evacuation of nearby residential homes.

Today, the owners of the company will be faced with the difficult task of deciding the future of 12 people employed there.

The fire at Bailick Blinds and Shutters, Bailick Road, about a mile from Midleton town centre, was fought by local fire brigade units supported by firefighters from Cobh and Carrigaline.

The alarm was raised some time before 5pm. Within a short space of time the fire became a raging blaze, according to one onlooker.

A pall of thick dense smoke forced the evacuation of 80 people from the nearby Waterside Apartments and a number of houses in the area.

Gardaí and firefighters maintained a half-mile security cordon around the site of the blaze which was well under control after two hours of intensive fire fighting.

A spokesman for the gardaí confirmed that nobody had been hurt in the incident.

This morning members of the garda technical bureau will carry out a detailed examination of the scene in a bid to determine the cause of the blaze.

Those who were evacuated from their homes were expected to be allowed return late last night as fire-fighters and gardaí remained at the scene in readiness for any potential flare up.