Fears of fatalities as emergency services tackle fire in Waterford City

The incident is described as an "ongoing evolving incident." 

A large presence of emergency services personnel remain at the scene of a fire at a domestic residence in Waterford City. 

It is understood that emergency responders believe there have been a number of fatalities.

Waterford Fire Service said it was alerted to a house fire at Birch Avenue, Kicohan at 5.13am on Tuesday morning.

"A number of units from surrounding stations attended and on arrival found a well-developed fire," a spokesperson for Waterford County Council said.

Operations to reduce the fire commenced immediately, and a "number of casualties were removed from the two storey house".

"The fire was extinguished and the scene handed over to An Garda Síochána," the spokesperson added.

Gardaí described the blaze as an "ongoing, evolving incident", with no further details available yet. 

Sinn Féin TD for Waterford Conor D McGuinness expressed his shock this morning, saying he is "praying for all those touched by this terrible incident".

"Gardaí are reporting that there may be a number of fatalities, with investigations ongoing.

"I would ask everyone to give firefighters and emergency personnel the space they need to carry out their work.

Thinking of those affected and those responding to this awful event," he added. 

More to follow...