Four injured in glass factory fire

Four people have been hospitalised after a huge fire at a glass factory in Co Fermanagh.

The blaze at the Quinn Glass factory in Derrylin started in a furnace containing molten glass at temperatures of 1,600 degrees centigrade.

The four injured were treated for smoke inhalation. It is understood they are employees at the plant.

At total of 126 fire-fighters were involved in the 11-hour operation to douse the flames.

Sixteen fire appliances were also deployed to the scene.

The factory manufactures food and drink containers.

Fire Service Area Commander Eoin Doyle said he had never witnessed anything like the scene that confronted him inside the factory.

“A furnace ruptured and 400 tonnes of molten glass came out like a lava flow into the factory complex,” he said.

“I’ve been in this game for 30 years and I’ve never faced anything like that.

“It was a huge operation. We had eight jets on the glass for eleven hours in an effort to cool it down at get it to solidify.

“But the situation was complicated because there was another furnace on site and, for health and safety reasons, we had to keep that one going while we put out the fire. It became extremely risky in there for a while.”

Mr Doyle estimated that around 12,000 sq feet of the factory had been damaged in the blaze.