Following a major fire at a workshop in the Cow Comforts factory in Belmullet, Co Mayo, believed to have been caused by an electrical fault, a major emergency plan was put into operation. The Palm Court ballroom on the Bangor Erris road was requisitioned as an emergency centre and civil defence and hospital emergency services were put on red alert. However, the majority of Belmullet residents opted to go to nearby friends and relatives.
While it was felt that there was no serious danger to health from the fire, it was inevitable that there would be some toxicity resulting from the fumes, said Mr Padraic Hughes, the Mayo county secretary. "As a precaution," he said, "people with asthma or bronchial-type disorders were advised to get out right away." It was most unusual to see a full-scale emergency plan in operation in the county, he conceded. The last time was in 1989 when a passenger train was derailed near Knock and about 10 people were seriously injured. He said Mr Tom Duffy, owner of the Cow Comforts factory, was "deeply disappointed, but glad that no one was injured".
"The whole factory is gone," said Mr Tim Quinn, Fianna Fail councillor for the area. "And it was doing brilliantly."
Mr Duffy, an industrial chemist, had acquired the factory in a management buy out from his former employer, Solano, a Spanish-owned company, who had made rubber soles there. He first leased the plant from Udaras na Gaeltachta about five years ago and went on to develop and market the eponymous product from which the plant gets its name.
It was a practical invention, said Mr Quinn, who himself has an extensive background in co-op management and is also a board member of Udaras. "Essentially, it's a rubber mat about 4 feet by 2 feet that can be put under an animal on, say, a concrete floor. It's particularly useful from the point of view of cleanliness. All the farmer has to do is hose down the mat and let it dry."
Mr Duffy had successfully marketed his product as far afield as Chile and was developing new markets all the time, said the councillor. He had planned to increase his workforce.
The total asset value of the enterprise was worth in the region of £5 million, he estimated - around £1.5 million in stock, £1 million in equipment and buildings valued at around £2.5 million.
Both the Wetern Health Borad and the Environmental Protection Agency would be carrying out extensive surveys of the area today, he confirmed "to see what the effects might be on the water and the fields".
It was a black day for the town, which is in an area which has suffered from job losses in recent months.