Family to be rehoused after devastating fire
Tracy Woods, whose home at the Bellview Crescent flats complex off Cork’s Old Youghal Road was gutted in a blaze on Wednesday, said she didn’t accept the council’s initial offer of a house because she didn’t want to live in that particular area of the city.
“It’s an area I don’t want to live in and my children said they wouldn’t feel safe there,” she said.
The Irish Examiner has established that she was first offered a house in a Mayfield housing estate.
The council identified a second house elsewhere in Mayfield and went back to Ms Woods with that offer late yesterday, which she accepted immediately.
It is hoped she and her three daughters will be able to move in to the house soon.
In the meantime, the council is putting Ms Woods and her family up in a B&B.
It is understood that they will have to leave this before the weekend because it is full with Valentine’s weekend bookings.
But the council said it will make alternative B&B arrangements for the family until they are ready to move in to their new home.
The family’s flat at Bellview Crescent was completely gutted in a blaze on Wednesday morning which fire fighters believe was caused by an unattended open fire.
The fire may have been burning for more than an hour before smoke was spotted billowing from the windows. Luckily, there was nobody in the flat at the time, and there were no injuries.
Neighbours yesterday said the occupants of the flats complex have no option but to light fires to stay warm because they have no central heating.
They also said the fire was the second blaze in the complex since December.
They said they are concerned about emergency escape routes, and said it is one of several issues, including rat infestation, they have raised with City Hall in recent years, without success.
They also complained about how certain city officials dealt with Ms Woods and other neighbours in the moments after the fire.
But deputy lord mayor, Cllr Ken O’Flynn, defended the response of council officials and said they are doing everything they can to help the family at this difficult time. “The front-line workers are under savage pressure in relation to lack of finance, and in some cases, lack of direction,” he said.
Following interviews with Ms Woods on both the Neil Prendeville Show on RedFM and The Opinion Line on Cork’s 96FM yesterday, neighbours and the wider public responded with offers of help.
Ms Woods said she was overwhelmed by the response from the public, which included offers of clothing, a TV, a suite of furniture and food vouchers.
“The support is unbelievable. I’m not looking for pity but I do appreciate all the offers of help,” she said.
The St Vincent de Paul society has also agreed to support the family over the coming weeks in whatever way it can.
