Firm to reopen for business after massive blaze

THE company whose premises was destroyed in a massive fire at the weekend will reopen for business next week.

Protim Abrasives, whose warehouse at 16A on the Little Island industrial estate, Co Cork, was gutted in the blaze on Sunday night, confirmed yesterday that it will redeploy its staff to a warehouse next door from Monday.

The firm, which manufactures wood preservative products, but which stored bathroom suites at the Little Island warehouse, said it hopes the new arrangements will guarantee the service it has been providing.

It thanked its neighbours in the industrial estate, its staff and customers for their support since the disaster.

A spokesman also paid tribute to the gardaí and fire services for their prompt action.

The fire broke out some time after 7pm on Sunday. Nine teams of fire fighters from across the city and county fought the blaze for more than three hours.

At the height of the blaze, flames shot up to 100 feet in the air and thick black plumes of smoke drifted across nearby housing estates.

There were concerns initially that the smoke contained toxic fumes.

However, the company and fire chiefs gave assurances that the smoke did not pose a substantial risk to public health.

The building was gutted, the roof collapsed and one of the side walls melted and imploded due to the intense heat generated by the blaze.

A twisted shell of buckled metal was all that remained of the warehouse on Monday morning.

Gardaí said that forensic investigations carried out on the warehouse after the blaze established that the cause of fire was accidental.