New Ross fire damaged furniture company owner speaks of 'devastation'
Fire at Culcita. Photo; Mary Browne
The owner of the furniture company premises largely destroyed in a fire in New Ross on Saturday has spoken of his devastation.
Paschal Bolger owns Culcita Ltd, which saw two units destroyed near Kent’s Cross roundabout on the R723.
Emergency services attended the scene of the major fire at the large industrial plant shortly before 11 a.m.
The furniture and garden furniture manufacturing and storage plant just off the R723 (formerly the N25), went up in flames with videos and photographs circulated on social media showing flames visible in the roof of the premises and gigantic black plumes of smoke billowing from the two units visible for miles around.
Mr Bolger said: “I am very emotional and stressed out about the whole thing. The number one thing is that nobody was injured, thank God.”
He paid tribute to the firemen and gardaí who attended the scene.
"I would like to thank them and everyone for all of their efforts. I don’t know what caused the fire. We only had a technical audit done a couple of weeks ago.” Speaking having just returned from China, Mr Bolger said: “I just don’t know what happened. I’m gutted. It’s so unfortunate for the factor and for the staff. It’s just devastating.” He said the company has been operating since the Seventies and at one stage employed over 120 people.
The fire broke out at around 10.30 a.m.
Several fire bridge units from across the region arrived at the scene with a large garda presence also. The emergency saw major traffic delays in the Bosheen and R723 areas of the town.
Senior assistant chief fire officer Ray Murphy said high reach units from Enniscorthy and Waterford were drafted in to battle the blaze, with water tankers also dispatched to the scene due to the huge volume of water required.
He said two units of the building have suffered catastrophic damage.
A garda spokesperson said there were was nobody inside the buildings when the fire broke out.
The New Ross based company is renowned for the quality of its furniture and was contracted by TV3 to design and build garden furniture for the morning show’s outdoor segments in 2018.
Employing around 80 people, the company has a showroom near the factory in New Ross.
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