Tenants say no alarms were heard during fire where floors 'filled with smoke' in Dublin

RESIDENTS OF AN apartment building in Ballymun, Dublin where the second floor “filled with smoke” after a fire broke out in the underground car park said they never heard a smoke or fire alarm during the ordeal.

One tenant’s son and other relatives were home when he heard three loud bangs coming from the bottom of their complex at The Plaza Apartments in Ballymun. The young boy went to the window of the apartment to see what he could find out.

The son told The Journal that after the second loud “explosion” he saw black smoke billowing from underneath the complex and people leaving the building.

The teenager said he gathered the cats and the others in the home and went next-door to let his neighbours know what was going on.

His father told The Journal that by the time they had reached the second floor, the smoke from the fire below had impaired their vision.

Both of the family members confirmed that despite the smoke causing extensive damage to their apartment complex and reaching the second of four floors in their block, they never heard an alarm.

The fire in the underground car park of the complex on the Shangan Rd in Ballymun, Dublin happened at approximately 1.15pm on 15 July, according to Gardaí.

A car, which had caught fire in the car park, was the source of the smoke and let off three loud noises which the son said sounded like “explosions”.

Amy Corr, another tenant in the building, said that she heard a loud bang on 15 July while she was at home with her seven-year-old son. 

“I initially thought someone had dropped a keg, about five minutes later, the WiFi went out, followed by a second loud bang,” Corr told The Journal.

I got up from my sofa and went to my back balcony and discovered that there was thick, black smoke all over the courtyard, flowing up from the underground carpark.”

Corr said she and her son evacuated the building with their neighbour’s children and were unaware of what had been happening underneath their apartment as, according to them, there had been no alarms.

Corr said: “We only made it down one set of stairs before we were met with think black smoke.

Essentially, we were blindfolded in an extremely smokey room.

“When we got outside the door, both grates on either side were spewing out smoke and flames and traffic had come to a standstill on both sides of the road,” Corr added.

Image taken from the back of the complex in Ballymun on 15 July picturing thick, black smoke coming up from the underground carpark. The Journal The Journal

Corr told The Journal that at no point during the five to seven minutes that it took both apartments to exit the building did a smoke or fire alarm go off. According to Corr, there was also “zero emergency lighting” in the building.

Dublin Fire Brigade said the complex, made up of the apartment buildings, Travelodge and a pub, The Metzo Lounge. In a statement, the fire service the last fire safety inspection of the building was completed on the 15 July, immediately after the fire occurred.

It found the Metzo Lounge and the Travelodge were both “broadly compliant” with regulations.

The fire service defines the “broadly compliant” outcome whereby no deficiencies, other than very minor items that were immediately rectified, are noted during an inspection.

The statement did not mention what the outcome of the apartment complex’s inspection was, nor did it confirm whether one was completed immediately after the fire.

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“Inspections are usually carried out on the basis of a risk assessment. Premises such as apartment blocks are generally not inspected unless there is a specific reason to do so, such as receipt of a complaint,” it said.

“Unless a complaint received is of a particularly serious nature, efforts are made to resolve the issue through liaison with the Owners Management Company and/or Managing Agent.

“In the case of the Plaza apartments no inspections have been carried out. DFB do not have the authority to inspect private dwellings.”

[File image] The complex where the fire happened in Ballymun, Dublin on 15 July. Daft.ie Daft.ie

It did mention that a previous inspection on the Travelodge on 1 March 2020 identified “inadequate fire safety management” and management safety protocols were discussed and agreed upon in order to improve its fire safety.

These protocols included the confiscation of cooking equipment within the hotel and that three daily inspections be performed.

Additionally, two separate inspections were carried out on the underground car park on 25 August 2019 and 5 September 2019. Both outcomes included a complaint about rubbish being present in the car park which, according to the statement, were “followed up”.

Corr believes emergency lighting was added to the building after the fire took place on 15 July. She also said she believes that beer kegs were being kept in the underground car park. She took a photo of a destroyed beer keg that was left outside the car park days after the fire.

Destroyed beer keg seen outside the carpark of the complex after the fire. Amy Corr / The Journal Amy Corr / The Journal / The Journal

The Dublin Fire Brigade said: “During a post fire meeting on site, the building caretaker advised that the [alarm] system had been upgraded last year and had worked correctly, however vandalism of components of the system requires constant monitoring.”

The statement from the fire service said it does not keep a record of instances of vandalism carried out on the equipment in The Plaza Apartments.

Additionally, the Dublin Fire Brigade confirmed that it received referrals in 2018 and 2019 from the Environmental Health Officer.

Some of these included references to the fire alarm system.”

“Dublin Fire Brigade engaged with the managing agent at the time to obtain certification that the system was properly maintained,” it added.

The Dublin Fire Brigade confirmed that a number of upgrades have been arranged to “active fire safety systems” in the complex after the fire – including to the fire detection and alarm systems, automatic vents, fire dampeners and also the emergency lighting system.

The Dublin Fire Brigade said that the fire was brought under control within an hour and that a number of people were treated for smoke inhalation before the scene was handed over to gardaí.

A spokesperson for An Garda Síochána said that enquiries into what started the first were made, however no offences were recorded. There is no further investigation into the incident.

However, the tenant’s husband said that his family were never told by Gardaí or members of the Fire Brigade if they were allowed to stay in the apartments or if any clean up would be completed.

Corr concurred with the other tenants, and said they received very little advice on how to proceed with the next few days.

Four days after the fire, the tenants and their entire block in the Plaza Apartments still had no hot water to shower, and could not flush their toilets, and the block’s electricity still was not working until 19 July.

Furthermore, according to the family, no clean up was started until almost a week after the fire and black stains from the smoke and soot were on the walls and floors of the apartment block, which has three apartments on every one of its four floors.

“The smell is still there. When you walk outside [of the apartment], you’re covering your face,” the father said.

Corr said: “My son refuses to return to the apartment as he doesn’t feel safe and you can still smell smoke when you’re coming up the stairs – you can’t avoid it as the lift doesn’t work.”

The Journal understands that Mathews Property Management is the company in charge of this building, as a number associated with the company was given to tenants. The company did not respond to requests to comment by the original time of publication.