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🇮🇪 Ireland /Disasters & Emergencies

Fire at Coolmore-owned property extinguished after two days in second blaze this year

From Irish Times · () English

Translated from English and summarized by DistantNews. Read the original for the full story.

At a glance

News Named sources Outcome reported
  • Firefighters took almost two days to extinguish a blaze in a Coolmore-owned hay shed at Castleblake Farm in Tipperary.
  • The fire marked the second blaze at the premises this year, after a February fire took 17 hours to extinguish.
  • Fire officials said the causes of both fires remained unknown, while Coolmore said composting materials had overheated during the natural process.

Firefighters in County Tipperary spent almost two days battling flames that engulfed a large Coolmore-owned hay shed used for composting. The blaze was the second to hit the same property this year.

Crews from Cashel and Cahir responded to the fire at Castleblake Farm in Rosegreen at 8.17pm on Wednesday, September 2. The fire was brought fully under control on Friday morning, September 4, after flames consumed hay inside the composting facility. Firefighters used two appliances and a water tanker.

The fire was brought under control this morning, September 4th, and scene handed back over to owners.

· Martin MooreThe Tipperary assistant chief fire officer confirmed that firefighters had controlled the blaze.

Martin Moore, assistant chief fire officer with Tipperary Fire and Rescue Service, confirmed that the incident took place on the same premises as a February fire. He said the cause of both fires was not known and that he could not speculate. Composting can generate intense heat in organic waste.

As the shed is substantially of concrete and steel construction there is little by way of incremental damage and a decision was made in collaboration with the fire service to allow the fire to burn out naturally.

· Coolmore spokesmanCoolmore described how the February fire was managed and assessed the likely damage to the shed.

The February 9 blaze took three fire engines 17 hours to extinguish. Coolmore said at the time that nobody was hurt. The company later attributed that fire to composting materials overheating, saying horse-bedding compost tends to be drier and more prone to overheating. It said the farm was assessing ways to reduce the risk.

Castleblake, about 2km from the Ballydoyle training centre, formerly operated as an animal-rendering site until 2003. Coolmore bought the property in 2010 after permission for a proposed €100 million bioenergy plant was refused. The John Magnier-run business later developed agricultural storage facilities there and received permission for a new 15-metre-high shed.

Compost from horse bedding tends to be much dryer and more liable to overheating, and the farm is assessing options to mitigate that risk.

· Coolmore spokesmanThe company explained its account of the earlier blaze and its plans to reduce the risk of another fire.
About this summary

Originally published by Irish Times in English. Translated, summarized, and contextualized automatically by DistantNews, with a note on how the source frames the story. Not individually reviewed before publishing. How this works.

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