A WOMEN’S HOMELESS shelter in Limerick city was evacuated late last night because of a fire that started in one of the ground floor bedrooms.
The local fire station were notified that a fire had broken out at the Thomond House Shelter for Women at around 12.20am, a source told TheJournal.ie.
All 24 residents and two staff members were evacuated, and four units were sent out to the house at Thomondgate.
Once the fire services arrived, the bedroom fire was found and quickly extinguished by firefighters wearing breathing apparatus.
No serious damage was done to the building but the shelter was badly smoke-logged and the fire service spent an hour clearing the centre of smoke with specialist fans.
A spokesperson for Thomond House said that although no one was injured and that they have returned to the building this morning, the room where the fire started – the only downstairs room in the building – was totally “gutted”.
The computer room, which is located beside the bedroom at the back of the house, is also damaged beyond use because of smoke from the fire.
It’s not known what the cost of repairing the damage would be – but at the moment, the problem for the shelter is that they are two bedrooms down.
“Hopefully some white knight will come to help us,” the Thomond House spokesperson told TheJournal.ie, when asked if they would need to fundraise to repair the building.
Thomond House provides up to 24 beds for women who are at risk of homelessness, and has been operating since 1994.
With reporting from Aoife Barry.
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