The Kerryman (South Kerry Edition)
DEVASTATED
DEVASTATION visited Kenmare Golf Club on Bank Holiday Monday as an early-morning blaze inflicted horrendous damage to the venue’s historic clubhouse.
The alarm was raised at around 4.15am, with emergency services called to the scene shortly afterwards, but while fire units from Sneem, Kenmare, and Killarney battled bravely to bring the flames under control, the damage was heartbreaking.
The fire ripped through the building’s roof and caused extensive damage. The financial cost and future of the building remain unclear, the club said. No definite cause of the fire has been identified
“But at least nobody was injured,” Manager John Sullivan Morgan told The Kerryman.
“The original clubhouse is unique. Part of it is here since around the ‘30s or ‘40s, it’s an old timber Indian hunting lodge. It’s single storey, and it came up here from Parknasilla, where it was before this...Everyone would love if we could re-build in the same style – but it’s very early days.
“The fire was in the original part of the building. The fire went up, and the roof was burned off. The timber frame structure is still there, but it burned up through the roof, that’s where the main damage was done.
“It’s impossible to know [the financial cost]”, Mr Sullivan added. “Whether parts of the building are savable, that will be down to engineers. We’ve no idea of the cost yet.”
“WE are devastated – but at least nobody was injured.”
Those were the words of Kenmare Golf Club Manager John Sullivan Morgan this week as fire ripped through the roof of the venue’s historic clubhouse, the most striking of the horrendous damage caused by a blaze in the building in the early hours of Monday morning.
Fire units were despatched from Kenmare, Killarney and Sneem after the alarm was raised at around 4.30am, after which fire services spent between an hour and an hour and a half bringing the situation under control, Mr Sullivan said. But while nobody was injured, the financial implications and future of the building remain unclear.
“We have our own alarm system, and I got a call around 4.15am. I jumped into my car, drove down to the clubhouse, which is about two or three minutes from me – and I’d say emergency services were called about two minutes after that by the security firm,” Mr Sullivan explained to The Kerryman.
“The original clubhouse is unique. Part of it is here since around the ‘30s or ‘40s, it’s an old timber Indian hunting lodge. It’s single story, and it came up here from Parknasilla, where it was before this.
“Everyone would love if we could re-build in the same style – but it’s very early days.
“The fire was in the original part of the building. The fire went up, and the roof was burned off. The timber frame structure is still there, but it burned up through the roof, that’s where the main damage was done.
“It’s impossible to know [the financial cost]”, Mr Sullivan added. “Whether parts of the building are savable, that will be down to engineers. We’ve no idea of the cost yet.”
While the course re-opened to members a fortnight ago as COVID-19 restrictions eased, the clubhouse itself was not in use, save for access to toilet facilities. No definite cause for the blaze has yet been identified.
“There was no activity in the clubhouse, so no cooker or coffee machine going or anything like that,” one member of the Fire Service, who attended the scene, explained. “I do believe it started in the attic because the worst of the fire damage was in the rafters, above the attic space. There was a lot of wiring there. But no, no definite cause [has been identified] yet.”
The blaze will not have any impact on play at the course, though members downed their clubs this week to help out in moving old stock, Mr Sullivan explained.
“They’re devastated,” he said. “With the year that’s in it, everything else is going wrong as well.
“Right now I’d just like to thank the emergency services for their work, the members for helping us out, and the good wishes we have received from members and non-members.”