Forty workers were evacuated from the Fruit of the Loom dyehouse in Buncrana, Co Donegal, last night when fire started in a drier. It spread to the insulation in the dye-house roof.
Fire tenders from Buncrana, Derry, Letterkenny and Carndonagh raced to the shorefront plant where flames could be seen above the roof. The alarm was raised at 11.50 p.m. as the evening shift was finishing. A number of firemen wearing breathing apparatus entered the smoke-filled building and others were lifted 50 feet by hoist above the building.
The fire was put out in less than an hour and the 40 workers waiting to begin the night shift were sent home.