…and separate blaze forces families to flee their homes

FAMILIES were forced to flee their homes after a fire that started in a shed quickly spread to a home heating oil tank.

After bringing the blaze under control late on Saturday night, fire crews in Co. Clare were forced to retreat to safety after it was found that the shed contained an oxy-acetylene tank which, it was feared, could explode if overheated.

The fire was reported at around 10.10pm when a passing motorcyclist stopped at a house on the old Limerick Road in Ennis and told the occupant there was a fire behind her home.

The fire had started in her neighbour’s shed at Dalcassian Avenue. It is understood that the owners of the property were out at the time.

Gardaí and two units of the fire brigade from Ennis attended the scene to find one shed well alight and spreading to an oil tank. Crews attacked the fire from two sides accessing the scene through homes on both Limerick Road and Dalcassian Avenue.

Residents were not evacuated from their homes but many left voluntarily concerned about the size of the fire and flames rising over 30 feet into the air.

One woman said: ‘I didn’t know there was a fire until a passing motorcyclist rang my doorbell. I looked out and saw a fire in the shed in the house behind so I called the fire brigade. They were here very quickly and were really great. I wasn’t evacuated but I just came out to be safe.’

Another local said: ‘One of the children heard a bang and ran down the stairs to me. I didn’t think it was anything until I looked out the window and saw the flames. They were really high. I thought that the house that was on fire.’

The cause of the fire is being investigated.