'It has been like a death in the family': Waterford factory owners count the cost of devastating blaze

Business owners at the city's Tycor centre have lost everything they built up over the years, and for some, they will never be able to start again

The fire at Waterford City’s Tycor Business Centre last Saturday evening.

It took numerous missed calls and the arrival of her daughter at her door before Blánaid MacCann was told “the Tycor is on fire”.

The Cork-born drama costume hire company boss's first concern was that everybody was safe after fire ripped through Waterford City’s Tycor Business Centre last Saturday evening.

Then she wondered if her unique collection of 50,000 or so costumes stored at her premises in the centre were destroyed.

“I was on the phone to a good friend and was gassing away,” the businesswoman recalls. “Friends rang me and then they got other friends to ring me, and then my daughter turned up at my home in Dunmore East.

“Myself and my husband Liam jumped in the car and we drove straight to the business centre.

“My heart was pounding as I approached and I could see the large plume of smoke rising up over the centre.”

When she got there, the streets were cordoned off and filled with fire-fighting appliances.

While she wasn’t allowed to get within sight of her unit, she watched from a nearby street as metres-high orange flames shot up through the roof of the vast complex in the general area of where her unit is.

Then she saw drone footage and her worst fears appeared to have been realised.

“My heart sank when I saw the whole area where my unit is on fire,” she recalled. “I just thought about my poor clients who were depending on me to provide them with costumes, and the vast collection of costumes themselves?

“In the end, I just stood there in tears, looking on.”

Blánaid MacCann with Causeway Group chief executive Sean Johnson at the Jute Factory on Monday. Picture: Joe Evans

As the owner of one of Ireland’s largest suppliers of costumes for films, plays and pantos, almost all her stock — some of which dated back to 1921 - was in the unit she owned in the business centre.

She had so many, that just a few days before the fire, she had been drawing up plans for what to do with some of the older items, some of which have dressed actors in dramas like Ballykissangel, and Father Ted.

She had bookings to supply costumes as far ahead as November.

Among clients who had been due to receive costumes from her in the days after the fire included a secondary school in South Dublin which was performing Beauty and the Beast.

“Realising all those costumes are very more than likely to have all either been destroyed, or left in such a state that I’ll never be able to use them again has been such a devastating blow,” she said.

It has been like a death in the family. Everything is gone, and I will never be able to recover from this.

DG Foods boss Andrew Hepburn’s unit — along with the stock and equipment in it — has been completely destroyed.

Gone are 40 pallets of Coca Cola, 12 pallets of frozen food, fridges, freezers, a fork lift truck, and tens of thousands of food packaging items, including take away boxes.

'One of the lucky ones'

He says that, despite sustaining damage estimated to be about €250,000, he is “one of the lucky ones”.

“I have other business locations in the city and I am still operating,” he said.

“But we have been hit hard and to get through this, we are going to need help, and I have started a 30-day recovery plan.”

He said promises of financial help from Government ministers who toured the site after the fire are welcome.

He doesn’t know where exactly the fire started, or in which unit.

“I can tell you it didn’t start in my unit,” he said. 

I’d be concerned for the person who eventually will be blamed one way or the other.

“I was watching the match on the TV when I saw the smoke coming from the business centre.

“It was at the far end of where my unit was, so I carried on watching the game.

“I kept checking my CCTV cameras every five minutes, and saw nothing happening at my unit.

“But when the cameras went off, I knew the power was gone, so I said to myself ‘this is bigger than I thought’ and I went to the unit.

“This was around 7pm and nothing in my unit was damaged, and I even let a fireman in to take a look. But within a very short space of time, the fire spread to my side of the centre and my unit went up in flames."

The centre has been a base for his companies for more than 20 years.

He says those left without a business base are going to struggle with finding a replacement.

“In 20 years, our rent stayed the same and that is the sort of place it is,” he said.

“The Causeway Group who own it have never milked it. It has always been clean, regularly maintained, and it was safe."

“People are sadly going to end up having to pay three or four times what they were paying at the Tyco."

One of the 40 or so units at the business centre caught fire on Sunday evening, at around 6.30pm.

It is not known publicly who was in the former 1930s Jute Factory at the time. By 7pm, the blaze appeared to be confined to one end of the complex.

Firefighters tackle the fire at the old Jute factory  in Tycor Business Centre. The fire was visible during the Cork vs Waterford Munster Senior Championship game at Walsh Park on Sunday. Picture: Noel Sweeney

After about 15 minutes, a wall of fire had ripped through the roof and spread right across the heart of the complex.

Flames and smoke were high enough to draw attention from spectators at the Waterford Cork Munster Senior Hurling Championship match at the nearby Walsh Park GAA stadium.

The entire business centre was closed down after the fire and by Monday evening, a clean-up of the area was under way.

Various meetings have since been held with the businesses affected.

One of the biggest concerns among businesses is finding a new place to base themselves, although some have since discovered the monthly rate for some premises have suddenly gone up.

Risk of asbestos

For locals, though, it will be the risk of asbestos.

Waterford City and County Council confirmed environmental sampling has identified asbestos-containing material in some of the debris related to the incident. 

"Asbestos is a naturally occurring fibre that was used extensively for building insulation prior to the 1990s, however it is now known that exposure to asbestos can have health implications. As such, asbestos is no longer used, however asbestos can remain in older buildings," it said.

"Asbestos-containing materials do not cause health problems, unless they are disturbed and the asbestos fibres are released into the air. This can happen during building renovations, during DIY, or after a fire." 

It said breathing in asbestos fibres could increase the risk of serious health effects usually associated with repeated or higher levels of exposure. "For this reason, people should avoid touching, sweeping, vacuuming, power-washing, or otherwise disturbing dust, ash, debris, or suspected asbestos-containing material," the council said.

Air monitoring for asbestos has been in place since the incident occurred and to date no elevated levels of asbestos have been detected in air sampling.

To reduce the chances of exposure to asbestos, the HSE advises it is important that any dust or debris that may contain asbestos fibres is not disturbed and released into the air.

It said the advice for those living within the immediate vicinity of the site is:

• Do not bring debris, dust or ash into your home on footwear or clothing;
• Remove and clean footwear before entering the house, where possible;
• Wash hands thoroughly after any outdoor activities.

Local Sinn Féin councillor Jim Griffin said: “Residents want to know where they stand with any plans to demolish the business centre, given that there will still be a considerable amount of asbestos debris there."