Blaze destroys grain store in Dublin docks

It may take a number of days to extinguish a major fire in Dublin's docklands that started last night.

The fire, which was discovered at 9.30pm, has destroyed a grain store on Alexandra Road owned by R and H Hall.

It is believed the fire started inside the store at about 8.50pm.

The animal feed was delivered to the store on Friday and stored there over the weekend until the fire was discovered last night.

At one point 14 units of the Dublin Fire Brigade were tackling the blaze. "The roof collapsed within an hour of the fire starting, which was to our advantage," a Dublin Fire Brigade spokesman said.

He said they would have units monitoring the aftermath of the fire all day today and probably tomorrow.

A spokesman for R and H Hall said he was unable to say when the store would re-open but categorically ruled out any job losses at the firm as a result of the blaze.

Five units are at the scene this morning and it is believed it could take several days to fully put out the fire.

In September, gardaí in Cork launched a criminal investigation into the cause of a fire which caused several million euro worth of damage to a 43 metre tall grain silo belonging to R and H Hall on Kennedy Quay.

Officers said they believed the Cork fire may have been the work of arsonists.

The fire was noticed shortly after 7am on September 19th and it quickly spread across the upper reaches of the silo, one of several owned by the Irish Agricultural Wholesale Society (IAWS) subsidiary.