Gardaí say it will be Thursday at the earliest before they can determine if a fire at former psychiatric hospital in Cork was the result of arson.
Insp Brian O’Donovan said garda technical experts were waiting for health and safety officers to give them the all clear to enter the remains of St Kevin’s on the Our Lady’s Hospital campus off the Lee Road.
Gardaí have started studying CCTV footage from the area after receiving reports that three youths were seen running from the derelict building as fire crews arrived on Tuesday night.
Members of Cork City Fire Brigade, supported by colleagues from Cork County Fire Service, spent the night battling the fire which broke out in the Victorian building at around 8.15pm.
Gerry Myers, Cork City Fire Service's third officer, said smoke was coming through the roof of the five storey red-brick building when the first of 28 firefighters arrived on the scene.Firefighters worked into the night bringing the blaze under control, he said.
Mr Myers said firefighters were able to save one third of the roof on the eastern end of the building but the timber floors on the third, fourth and fifth storeys all collapsed and fell on to the second floor.
Part of the western gable end of the building collapsed inward and the safety of the entire structure needed to be examined, he said.
The HSE, which owns St Kevin’s, said there was no estimate yet as to the cost of the damage caused by the fire at the building, which has been vacant since 2002 when it closed as a psychiatric unit.
Offered
The HSE said the building was deemed surplus to requirements and was recently offered to other State agencies but there were no expressions of interest to date.
It said it had engaged recently with an estate agent about the possibility of “bringing the campus to the open market.”
The HSE said an external security company provides twice daily security patrols and static guards were on the site on high risk nights. Some 235 fixed panel shutters were installed to prevent people accessing the building and these were checked on a weekly basis and repaired when required, it said.
A CCTV system on the perimeter of the site is monitored on a 24/7 basis while HSE maintenance staff carry out weekly inspections including checking and repairing boundary fencing, it said.
The HSE said structural engineers would, once permitted by the fire service and An Garda Síochána, evaluate the protected building to assess the integrity of the structure.
"In the interim period, an exclusion zone will be created around St Kevin's building with the use of Heras fencing," said the HSE in a detailed response to a number of questions from The Irish Times.
Insp O’Donovan appealed to anyone with information about the fire to contact Gurranebraher Garda station on (021) 4946200.
