 The aftermath of the fire at the premises of Thomas McKenzie & Sons, Pearse Street | |
| Date | January 7 – August 16, 1970 (1970-01-07 –1970-08-16) |
|---|---|
| Location | Dublin,Ireland |
| Cause | Arson |
| Perpetrator | Ulster Volunteer Force (assumed) |
The1970 Dublin fires were a number of arson attacks inDublin,Ireland in 1970. At the time, the series of fires were rumoured to have been caused by theUlster Volunteer Force following a threat that was made stating that “Dublin will burn”.[1]Gardaí later stated that they believed that the fires were unrelated to the threats and were most likely the work of arsonists.[2]
The first fire of the year was on 7 January in the drapery and hardware section of Dunnes Stores in the Cornelscourt Shopping Centre inCornelscourt causing hundreds of thousands of pounds worth of damage.[3] The Fire Brigade prevented the fire from spreading to the supermarket area. The leader of the Fire Brigade said the fire had started in the roof area and spread rapidly. He said "there were explosions all over the place but nobody knows what caused them". The next day it was announced thatBen Dunne was preparing plans with architects to rebuild the damaged section with a temporary drapery section being created in the undamaged part of the store.[4]
A fire on 9 April destroyed the building of Thomas McKenzie & Sons Ltd, ahardware store, onPearse Street causing damages estimated to be at least £300,000.[5][6] The land was later sold to a developer for an undisclosed sum.[7]
On 25 June, a fire was lit in the timberyard of James McMahon Ltd, located onEast Wall Road, which destroyed a huge stock oftimber.[8] The damages caused were reported to be £1 million. Two days later, during the early hours of 27 June, a fire broke out in a diesel storage warehouse, the property of Cassin Diesel Air Transport Ltd, and spread to the adjoining nine shops along Church Road, which were located besideSt. Joseph's Church, gutting each one.[9][10] A block of housing forpensioners called St Mary's Court was built in its place in the mid 1970s.
A fire broke out on 26 June in the large warehouses of Holroyd & Jones and Brooks Thomas & Co, a timber store, onAbbey Street at 3am.[11] This was later reported to have been caused byhousebreakers. On 13 July, another fire was set in the premises shortly after 8pm. One fireman was seriously injured and was in hospital due tofirefighting. Gardaí were searching for three cars, two of which hadNorthern Ireland registration plates, that were all reportedly seen speeding away from the site after the fire emerged.[12]
P.J. Matthews & Co. Ltd, a paint store and building providers warehouse located on James's Place East, was set on fire in the early hours of the morning of 2 July.[13] The warehouse was opened in 1950 and employed 100 people at the time of the fire. A man was noticed on the roof of the warehouse before the fire broke out.
The stables and loft of Springfield House,Shankill, the home of Jack Doyle, abloodstock dealer, were set alight on the night of 13 July. The alarm was raised by Anne Ennis, wife of jockey and trainer Frank Ennis who lived nearby.[14] Doyle felt that this arson attack on his property was malicious, and not an accident.
A fire broke out at Moore & Co's garage onStephen Street, offAungier Street on the night of 15 July.[15] Concerns amounted when the fears of the fire spreading to the adjacent shopping block of buildings onGeorge's Street and the risk of the underground fuel tanks exploding were realised. The fire was contained after two hours and the damages caused were estimated to be around £20,000 to £30,000.
A block of buildings, including four large warehouses, were set alight during the night of 16 August alongSheriff Street in theNorth Wall area of north Dublin.[16] Among the affected were the premises ofChadwicks, a building providers and Wiggin's Teape, a paper merchant.[17] Firemen generated a large water barrier to prevent the fire from spreading to theKosan Gas warehouse which had gas cylinders inside that could have exploded.
