Millions of euro in damage as overnight fire destroys Little Island warehouse

Explosions were heard across Cork Harbour on Sunday night as a major fire destroyed a commercial warehouse containing 11 trucks and caused millions of euro worth of damage.

The alarm was raised just after 11pm on Sunday night, with firefighters from Cork city and county responding to what has been described as “a substantial fire” at a distribution warehouse in Ballytrasna in Little Island.

A dozen fire crews attended the fire, with four appliances from Cork City Fire Brigade at the scene, assisted by crews from Cobh, Midleton, Bandon, Mallow, and Carrigaline.

Victor Shine, second officer with Cork City Fire Brigade, said the majority of the warehouse had already been destroyed when crews arrived at the scene.

“It was already a well-established fire, with flames coming through the roof and a number of the trucks within the building ablaze,” Mr Shine said.

It is understood that there were 11 vehicles in the building, many of them with full tanks of diesel and loaded with produce.

Loud explosions were reported from across the harbour, with orange flames seen from areas such as Passage West and Rochestown.

With the warehouse and its contents completely destroyed, damages are expected to run into the millions.

Mr Shine praised the work of the responding firefighters, saying they had worked in difficult circumstances to bring under control a major blaze.

“Due to their efforts, fire was prevented from spreading to the surrounding buildings and nobody was injured,” he said.

One person was treated at the scene for suspected smoke inhalation.

A garda spokesperson said gardaí were assisting at the scene and confirmed that no injuries had been reported.