Fire at docks complex was started deliberately, say gardaí
They were waiting for clearance from the fire brigade last night before allowing forensic experts in to examine the gutted silo on the 30-acre R&H Hall storage depot complex on Kennedy Quay.
The results of both fire service and garda forensic examinations are expected to confirm it was arson.
There were unconfirmed reports yesterday that a number of individuals were seen running from the site shortly after the blaze started.
Small pockets of fire were still burning inside the huge structure and debris was still falling from the outside of the silo last night.
Several internal passage ways and elevated external walkways linking the silos were destroyed and those that remained, were structurally unsafe.
Edward Buckley, a third officer with the city fire brigade who coordinated yesterday’s massive fire fighting operation, said it could be this morning before the building is deemed safe to examine.
Members of R&H Hall’s senior management team had arrived in Cork from Dublin by mid-morning to assess the damage.
A company spokesman said it was too early to estimate the cost of the damage but the cost could run to millions of euro.
However, he said: “The fire will not impact on employment at the facility or on the normal operations of the company.”
A decision on whether or not to knock the structure has yet to be made.
The company also praised the fire service and gardaí for their response.
The 140 foot-high 1950s-built central storage gutted in the early morning blaze is one of seven on the site.
There were up to 6,000 tonnes of barley in its eight huge steel bins awaiting export.
They were particularly full because it is the end of the barley-harvesting season.
The fire brigade was alerted at around 7am — less than an hour before up to seven R&H Hall workers were due to start their shift.
Seven units of the fire brigade responded, including several huge crane units.
A 110ft-high platform was drafted in from Carrigaline to help fight the blaze.
Fire crews and gardaí sealed off the entire Kennedy Quay.
Early morning rush-hour traffic within a two-mile radius was diverted for up to two hours.
Enormous flames shot from the tops of all eight steel bins. The concrete structures on either side were also ablaze.
There were a number of minor explosions as the fire spread rapidly.
Up to 20 firemen, some standing on huge ladders, bravely battled the blaze.
Small teams of fire fighters on the ground had to dodge large chunks of falling flaming debris as they tried to work their way into the burning silo.
Ladder crews doused the complex with thousands of gallons of water for almost three hours.
At the height of the blaze, enormous flames shot from the top of the iconic structure sending plumes of thick black smoke drifting across the city.
Mr Buckley said it was an extremely difficult and technically challenging fire to fight.
The Port of Cork’s fire fighting tug, the Gerry O’Sullivan, was berthed on the quayside and it shot tonnes of water in a curtain shape hundreds of feet into the air to help contain the blaze.
The main fire was eventually brought under control just after 10am.
But fire crews remained at the scene until late evening as the giant bins continued to smoulder.
They continued to douse the silo with water and assessed the safety of the structure from the ladders and the scene was sealed off by gardaí just before 10am pending a forensic examination.
Two men — Tom O’Shea and George Atkinson — were killed in an explosion in a silo at the R&H Hall site in October 1984.
R&H Hall is one of Ireland’s biggest importers and suppliers of animal feed ingredients for feed manufacturing.
The company was established in Cork in 1839 and was bought by the IAWS group in September 1990.
It has operations at deepwater port locations at Cork city, Ringaskiddy, Dublin, Waterford, Foynes and Belfast, and provides a specialised bulk cereal handling, drying, screening and storage service.
The company’s Cork complex on the city’s south docks is part of a site which has been earmarked by the city council for a multi-billion docklands regeneration project which envisions the creation of over 6,000 homes, offices, restaurants, a marina and a conference centre.
A special council directorate recently appointed a consortium of consultants to prepare a Local Area Plan (LAP) for the south docks.
They are consulting with the landowners, stakeholders and residents before publishing a draft plan later this year.
It will set out a detailed planning framework, development policies and objectives, to help shape future development of the area.
A further round of consultation will take place after publication.
The LAP for the north docks just across the river Lee, as well as the necessary variations of the city development plan, were adopted by the council in December, 2005.
