LETTERKENNY businessman John Watson said they are very lucky no one was killed in the major fire that burned down his premises and caused substantial damage to a HSE storage unit on Monday evening. It was only by chance Mr Watson was not in the building when the devastating blaze broke out. Several staff members were outside Watson Hire at around 6pm and were locking up when they heard a loud bang inside.
Speaking to the Donegal News on Tuesday morning a devastated Mr Watson said: “We were very lucky. I was supposed to stay back last night. I always stay on to half six to get the paper work done but last night I just didn’t. Thank God everywhere was empty.
“We were going to go back in again but the shutter wouldn’t go back up because the power went. If we went in, we weren’t coming out. We were standing chatting and we went to put the shutter down and there was a pop, then there was another pop and there was a bang. It happened so quickly. Thank God we didn’t get the door up. If the power didn’t go out and we had got the door up we were stuck in the place.”
John Watson, Watson Hire
Mr Watson was getting ready to celebrate 15 years in business in two weeks time and was carrying out some renovations to mark the milestone.
“We got new solar panels on, new lights put in and a new carpet ordered. I was getting everything done for the 15 years,” he said. “The strange part about it was we were never as busy since Covid.”
The building was filled with highly flammable material, including fuel, paint and gas cylinders. A huge plume of black smoke rose into the blue sky over Letterkenny shortly after 6pm and could be seen for miles away. Fortunately, due to the weather conditions the smoke was carried away from the town although the gardai had posted a notice advising people in the vicinity to keep their windows closed. There was no damage to the nearby Grove Furnishings and a spokesperson said there was no smoke damage in its showrooms. By around 7.45pm the plume had all but disappeared such was the intensity of the blaze over the preceding ninety minutes. Onlookers gathered around the busy Kiltoy junction but were prevented from going past the Educate Together School building across the road.
Mr Watson praised the efforts of the Fire Service, the Ambulance Service and the Gardai and said they could not do enough. The sheer volume of community support could be felt as we spoke to Mr Watson at Kiltoy with every car stopping to offer their condolences and his phone was ringing off the hook with offers of help and support flooding in.
“The messages have been coming in from everywhere. The amount of offers we have got. We have been offered ten buildings this morning. Hire companies all over the north have been calling and saying we will send stock up to you free of charge.”
The company has twenty employees and emotions were running high as they lined out outside the building on Tuesday morning in support, coming to terms with what has happened. There will be a lengthy process to go through but Mr Watson is determined to open again and is looking for a suitable premises.
Damage caused to the Watson Hire building
The cause of the fire remains unknown and the Fire Service investigation is ongoing. A spokesperson for the Fire Service told the Donegal News: “Letterkenny Fire Brigade was alerted to a fire at Kiltoy at 6:06 pm, with the first appliance leaving the fire station at 6:10pm and arriving at the incident at 6:13pm followed by a second appliance and a high reach platform. On arrival both buildings were involved in a well developed fire with smoke and flame issuing through the roofs of the two attached buildings.
“One building measuring approximately 55m x 20m was used for a tool hire business and had a large quantity of plant stored in the adjacent yard in addition to a quantity of gas cylinders. The second building measuring approximately 15m x 90m was used primarily for the storage of health care goods with additional office space attached. Stranorlar fire brigade and Milford fire brigade were alerted at 6:15pm.
“The brigade prevented the fire from spreading to a number of adjacent buildings and also prevented any fire damage to the plant stored in the yard of the tool hire business. The fire was also prevented from spreading to a part of the storage area in the second building and to the attached office space.”
The community of Letterkenny has rallied behind the well known businessman, who is a past president of the Chamber of Commerce. Several Go Fund Me pages have been set up to help get the business back up and running as soon as possible.
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