Cork city blaze forces evacuation of apartment block

An apartment block had to be evacuated but there were no injuries following a fire that started in a derelict house in Blackpool last night and threatened to spread to adjoining properties.

Residents of Roman Court, which has an entrance on both Upper and Lower John St, said fire officers asked them to evacuate the building because of heavy smoke in the area.

Rob Kelleher, Atila Berardinelli and Tríona Ní Mhurchadha were among those who adjoined to nearby Pa Johnson’s pub while six units of Cork city fire service fought for several hours to bring the blaze under control after the alarm was raised around 7pm.