Seven are rescued from warehouse blaze

Geraldine Gittens

SEVEN people were rescued from a blaze in a derelict building in Dublin's north inner city.

Six men and one woman, all foreign nationals, were pulled from the fire at the three-storey disused warehouse, where they were believed to have been squatting.

Dublin Fire Brigade rushed to the scene after patrolling gardai noticed the blaze at the junction between Castleforbes Road and North Wall Quay. One of the firemen at the scene said: "We got two people out the back way and another three people were trapped upstairs so the fire crews had to go up using breathing apparatus.

"When the smoke was gone, we went upstairs and then on the second floor we found another guy.

"The potential for this one was huge. They had no means of escape, so they were extremely lucky that we arrived quick enough and established that there was one person still there." One person was taken to hospital but has since been released, and the six other people refused medical attention.

Castleforbes Road was closed off between North Wall Quay and the Luas stop for some time after the fire.

SWEEPING

"They were in the middle of the warehouse and they were trapped. We broke the door down at the front and the side and got them out that way," said the fireman. "We initially were told that there were five people there, but as always, we didn't take it for granted. We kept sweeping the building, and at least an hour and a half later we found another guy.

"We were there until 3.30am and we thought the building might collapse because it's an old building so the road was closed off."

Gardai are investigating the fire, which took place at around 11.30pm on Wednesday.

hnews@herald.ie