Dublin Fire Brigade still battling blaze at storage facility near M50

Nearby buildings evacuated but no casualties reported after blaze on ‘higher end of scale’

Some 10 units of the Dublin Fire Brigade battle a large fire at a storage facility beside the M50 motorway. Video: Alan Betson

Dublin Fire Brigade were continuing to battle an "extremely large" blaze at a storage facility near the M50 in Dublin on Wednesday night.

The fire was reported at 10.15am at the Store It facility in the Ballymount Cross industrial estate. A spokesman for Dublin Fire Brigade said the level of response required was "very much on the higher end of the scale" and a heavy presence was still being maintained at the scene.

“The fact that we had, at the height of it, seven fire appliances, two aerial appliances, specialist units, senior officers and a lot of other bits and pieces, I would say the damage is quite extensive,” he said. “It is an extremely large incident.”

He added that the fire had been contained in one area but could not say at this stage whether it was under control.

READ SOME MORE

A number of people were evacuated from adjacent buildings on Wednesday morning but no casualties were reported.

The facility in question is described as a “family run business” that offers storage to householders and business people alike.

One man, who did not wish to be named, said he was in the process of moving house and approximately 90 per cent of his and his partner’s belongings were in storage at the facility.

“I’m moving house so we’re kind of in between properties and most of my belongings including furniture, CDs, personal documents, all that kind of stuff, are stored in there,” he said.

“It’s everything. But the main thing is that it’s just possessions. Nobody was hurt. The stuff is replaceable. We’re just coming to terms with it.”

He said he had been having difficulty communicating with the company involved. “We haven’t been able to get through to them, which isn’t surprising,” he said. “The phone is just ringing out. I had a look on the website and there is no news on that.

“We’re thinking of taking a drive out there later but there’s no way we’re going to get near it. We might get a sense of things or there might be someone from the company out there. I’m hoping they’ll be making contact with us at some stage as well.”

Colin Gleeson

Colin Gleeson

Colin Gleeson is an Irish Times reporter