HOW DID BLAZE SPREAD DOWN TO LOWER FLOORS?

A KEY question for investiga- tors into the Metro Hotel fire will be why the blaze spread downwards so quickly.

It appears the blaze started in the middle of the 13th floor but within a very short space of time it had not jumped upwards but instead skipped two floors and set the tenth floor ablaze.

And while it appears that some of the apartments on the 13th floor have at worst been smoke damaged, just about everything on the tenth floor has been destroyed.

Indeed, while the tenth floor had initially been used as a base from which Dublin Fire Brigade officers controlled their firefighting efforts, they quickly moved the space to lower floors as they became overcome with smoke from floors above them.

This forced firefighters to keep re-establishing their internal fire control base to lower and lower floors until they got to the sixth floor.

By then they just decided to quit the building altogether because of what had quickly become a wind-driven fire, with gusts of wind bellowing the flames through the tower block’s heat damaged windows.

At the moment the fire does not appear to have been started deliberately.

But it may emerge, according to fire safety sources, that the location of smoke vents and the angle of their slats is likely to be one aspect of the building that would be looked at.

A spokesman for the hotel said last night: ‘Metro Hotel is actively engaging with emergency services following the fire.

‘The key focus of hotel staff is to notify in-bound guests and to source alternative accommodation for tenants and guests, with whom we will be liaising throughout today.

‘The cause of the fire is still being investigated.

‘No decision can be made about a hotel re-opening date until the cause of the fire has been established and all safety considerations have been thoroughly assessed.’