Belmullet Co-op damaged in fire

Belmullet Co-op damaged in fire


Anton McNulty

HUNDREDS of thousands euro worth of damage was caused to the Co-op in Belmullet after a fire broke out in the building in the early hours of Saturday morning.
While the cause of the fire is not fully known it is believed to have started by a fault in one of the refrigerators in the Co-op. The fire appeared to have smouldered away for a number of hours before an employee noticed the dark smoke inside the building at 8.30 on Saturday morning. The fire was extinguished by units of the Mayo Fire Service and no other buildings are believed to have been damaged in the incident.
The manager of the Co-op, Tim Quinn told The Mayo News that there was a lot of smoke damage done to the building and early estimates revealed that the damage has run into hundreds of thousands of euro worth of damage.
“It is mostly smoke damage but the cost will run into hundreds of thousands of euro with a number of grocery products such as clothes, footwear and toys destroyed. We are not sure when the fire started but it was out in a matter of minutes when the fire brigade arrived. We are evaluating the damage at the moment but we expect to be eight to ten weeks out of business. It is a big set-back because the Co-op employs up to 12 people on a full-time and part-time basis and is used by the community,” he said.