Waterford city apartment fire treated as arson

Gardaí­are investigating an attack that forced a young family out of its Waterford city home early on Thursday morning.

An accelerant was used in the incident that caused a broken window and some smoke damage at the ground-floor apartment in the quiet Sycamores estate in Waterford city at about 1am.

A couple, both aged 27, and their eight-year-old child had to leave the apartment, and it may be some days before they can return, given the amount of cleaning up required.

Nobody was injured, and the family members were helped by neighbours as they got out of the apartment.

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Former mayor of Waterford city Cllr Adam Wyse, who lives in that part of the city, described the attack on the house as "worrying" and said there has been a number of arson attacks in Waterford recently.

Supt Chris Delaney visited the scene on Thursday morning and said a "significant" amount of damage had been caused by the fire. "We are treating it as criminal damage by fire," he said. "It was some form of arson attempt on the dwelling."

He confirmed that “some form of accelerant” was used by whoever was responsible.

An incident room has been set up at the local Garda station. “We’re looking at all avenues, and we’re putting an appeal out this morning, for anyone with information to contact us.”

The Sycamores is located just off the Dunmore Road, close to University Hospital Waterford and the Ardkeen shopping centre. It contains about 30 houses, along with some apartments.

Mr Wyse said this area would “rarely” have incidents like this. “It’s terrible to hear that a young family were inside when the fire started. Usually this would be an accident or an electrical fault, but to hear the gardaí­ treating it as suspicious is worrying for residents in the area.

“There has been a number of arson attacks in Waterford, and self-set fires, and hopefully the trend ends here. Communities shouldn’t be put under this type of stress, especially ones like The Sycamores who are a tight-knit estate,” Mr Wyse said.