Coachford chipper left 'burnt to the ground' following fire 

The owner of a family-run chipper in Coachford has said that they hope to be “back strong as ever again”, after a blaze on Sunday night left their Main Street premises “burnt to the ground”.

Cork County Fire Service and Gardaí attended the scene of the fire at Mag's Chipper on Coachford’s Main Street shortly before 10pm on Sunday.

A spokesperson for Cork County Fire Service said that the blaze was "well alight" by the time units from Macroom and Bandon had arrived. 

They said that the fire was fought and quickly brought under control, but that the single-storey detached building was "extensively damaged in the blaze". 

Mags O’Brien, owner of the family-run chipper that has been open for over 50 years, said that the fire took off after flames started to rise from a deep fat frier at around 9:30pm.

“Flames came out of the deep fat frier and took off, there was black smoke, we walked out the door,” she said, adding that the fire didn’t die down until after midnight.

The scene was made safe by the fire brigade and handed over to the Gardai at 00:26. 

Although nobody was hurt, Ms O’Brien said that the fire has left the chipper “burnt to the ground”, with “30 years of memories gone down the drain” since she started working there.

However, she said that the family hopes to be “back on the road” soon.

She said that the local community has rallied around the family in the wake of the fire, as they have received a flood of messages and calls of support.

“We’ll be back as strong as ever again .. we’re the same family 52 years in business, I’ve been there 30 years, so we’ll be back as strong as ever again hopefully,” she said.