'Everything was moving very slowly': Shopper describes fire which engulfed Douglas car park

A number of eyewitnesses whose cars were parked in the multi-storey car park that was engulfed by fire in Douglas this evening spoke to the Irish Examiner.

Brid Forde had returned to her car after completing the weekly shop in Tesco supermarket which is the main anchor tenant in the Douglas Shopping Centre. She loaded up the boot and prepared to drive out. Her car was parked on Level One. As she turned a corner to approach the ramp she noticed smoke and flames.

"I could see a small fire and some smoke. I was a little nervous because at that stage I didn't know where it was coming from so I turned my car back in the opposite direction. I was at the junction where you can turn right to exit or turn left to head towards Level Two. I parked further down on Level One and got out to see what was happening. I wish now I had parked further away.

"At that point, there was a couple of people standing around looking at what was happening. At first, I thought maybe there was a fire in Dennehy's Gym but a man said it was a car. There were shoppers returning to their cars and the group of people watching grew.

"There was no panic at all at that stage. It was around 7pm. About 20-25 people had gathered. I did not hear a fire alarm going off and no sprinklers came on. We were standing around for about 10 minutes watching," she said.

Ms Forde, from Rochestown Road, said she saw just one security guard at that point and no-one seemed to be moving. Then the security guard started to move people along.

"My impression was that everything was moving very slowly. The reaction was slow. It did not look as if the fire was being dealt with," she said.

The security guard moved the shoppers towards the travelator. Ms Forde said the smoke had started to thicken. As they made their way to the travelator she didn't notice a steel door lowering and she hit her head. The shoppers were then asked to leave their shopping at the top of the travelator and to go downstairs. They were told the fire brigade was on the way.

It was all very calm. As we were going down the travelator, we could hear explosions. Someone remarked that it was probably the car tyres exploding.

"One woman said her car was parked just two cars down from the car that was on fire. The car was in the middle row of parking bays, closer to the Marks and Spencers end.

A firefighter tackles the blaze. Photo: Cork City Fire Brigade

"When we went downstairs to the shopping centre it was all very calm. All the Tesco staff and shoppers were being evacuated.

One man whose van was trapped on Level One was distraught. He said his life was in his van. I had to leave behind about €200 of shopping in my car.

"The fire brigade started arriving then and I phoned my husband Alan and he came to collect me. We don't know what the story is about our car, but thankfully nobody was injured.

"Ironically, I had been heading to Douglas Court, but forgot my purse and returned home to get it. When I came back towards Douglas I opted instead for Tescos instead because I wanted to go to Sheehan's Butchers. I knew they stayed open til 7pm on a Saturday, so it was close enough to that time when I attempted to leave the car park."

Ms Forde said the fire brigades had to tackle the blaze from outside the multistorey carpark as the ramps on the way in were too low for them to gain entry.

You can read another eyewitness account of the fire below: