Firefighters battle large blaze through night at Cork recycling centre

Firefighters in Cork spent the night battling a blaze at a recycling centre which sent dark clouds of smoke spewing over the city as fire chiefs urged people to remain indoors and keep windows closed.

The blaze broke out at the recycling centre in an industrial centre off John F Connolly Road in Churchfield on Cork's northside shortly after 7.30pm on Friday night and material quickly ignited.

Soon large clouds of thick black smoke were mushrooming up over the recycling centre – which is on one of the highest ridges on Cork’s northside – with the smoke visible from most of the city.

Units of the Cork City Fire Brigade from Anglesea Street Fire Station and Ballyvolane Fire Station raced to the scene with firefighters having to cut open a chain-locked gate to gain access.

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They battled to contain the blaze and were later joined by three other units of the Cork City Fire Service from Anglesea Street and a unit of the Cork City Fire Service from Ballincollig.

The Cork City Fire Service requested assistance from Cork County Fire Service, which dispatched a unit from Midleton and at one point up to 30 firefighters were involved in the operation.

Firefighters used a platform to fight the blaze, while they also deployed a foam cannon trailer, aiming their hoses through the branches of trees to spray the blaze with the extinguishing foam.

They managed to contain the blaze and units spent the night dampening down the fire with the last units departing the scene and returning to their stations at 8.30am on Saturday morning.

No one was injured in the fire but when it was at its height the fire service urged people to stay away from the area and urged people in the general vicinity to keep their windows and doors closed.

Meanwhile gardaí from nearby Gurranebraher Garda Station are waiting until it is safe before sending in a Garda technical team to examine the scene and try and establish the cause of the fire.