A fire that destroyed Kellett's bedding manufacturers in Oldcastle, Co Meath, early yesterday morning has dismayed the village. It was the third major local industry to be hit by fire recently.
Around 140 people were employed in the factory, which was one of Ireland's largest bedding manufacturers and the company behind the RESPA brand.
Yesterday only the steel frame that once supported the premises was visible, warped by the heat of the fire.
Three years ago fire devastated Vanguard Plastics and last week the company went into liquidation. In September a fire in a furniture factory claimed one life.
Mr Thosh Kellett, who owns the bedding factory, said he would rebuild it and promised to pay his 147 staff in the interim. The family-run business was the largest employer in Oldcastle and the oldest, having been established nearly 50 years ago.
Within a matter of hours other local factories had offered the use of their premises to the Kellett family. Construction is under way on an extension to the main factory and work on that will continue. In the meantime they will use another smaller premises.
"This is awful, over 300 jobs have been lost here in recent months. We have had two factories burnt and another go into liquidation," said a local man.
The workers and dozens of locals watched the fire. Workers who arrived for the early shift just before 6 a.m. saw smoke billowing from one of the main production areas.
From there it spread to a store and the mattress assembly area. Within a short time the roof of the main building collapsed. Firefighters from Oldcastle, Kells, Navan, Trim and Castlepollard fought to get the blaze under control and spent most of yesterday dampening it down.
The Chief Fire Officer for Co Meath, Mr Michael Stack, said: "The factory was extensively damaged. It would be impossible to determine the exact cause due to the extensive nature of the damage, it is just debris that is left."
Local TD Mr Johnny Brady visited the scene and said: "The manager told me he was determined and has called his workers together, promised them they will be paid and said he will get back into production. It was very sad, everybody was in a state of shock. There were grown men crying and telling me they were 43 and 44 years working there."
As a safety precaution, the fire brigade ordered the evacuation of a nearby secondary school. There were no injuries in the blaze and gardai have begun an investigation into the cause. A garda spokesman said indications were that it started accidentally, possibly after an electrical fault.