What The Blazes…..

Wreckless. Disgusting. Disgraceful. Nasty. Thoughless. Pure Vandalism. Those are only a few of the words that could be used to describe what took place on Spike Island on Sunday 20th June 2010. At approximately 6.40pm yesterday, Cobh Edition received a call from a local to inform us that there was a high level of smoke coming from the front area of Spike Island. ‘Spike’s On Fire’ were the exact words. ‘Spike’s On Fire’. Not something one would be expecting to hear, nonetheless we took the short journey into Town and there it was, right in front of us, Spike Island omitting smoke high into the summer sky.

Chatting with locals near Kennedy Pier the general opinion was that it had to have been the intense heat from the Sun that was the cause as it was becoming clearer that it was the gorse that was ablaze, then one local told us that some people had been seen on the island and that the fire (singular, as we thought at the time) had been started deliberately, however it turns out there were several fires in progress. Emergency services arrived at Kennedy Pier and were able to access the Island via one of the local ferry boats and at approximately 8.15pm last night everything was under control.

This comes just as things were looking up, as on Sunday 11th July, which is the 72nd anniversary of Spike Island being handed back to the Irish Government, is set as the date for the official handing over of the island from the Department of Justice, Equality and Law Reform  to Cork County Council.

Cobh & Harbour Chamber President Michael Martin told Cobh Edition this morning that ”All decent people will be outraged by this wanton act of vandalism. Spike Island is a ‘National Treasure’. It’s preservation should attract the requisite resources from Government and the County Council to ensure it’s safety”

Chairman of Cobh Tourism, Hendrick Verwey added ”It was lucky that there wasn’t serious damage caused andhopefully the threat of further fires will be taken seriously and steps taken to minimise the risk”.

Cobh Edition spoke to Cobh Gardai this morning who confirmed that these fires had been started deliberately. No-one has yet been arrested in connection with it and investigations are ongoing. Anyone with information should contact Cobh Garda Station on 021-4908530

All comments aside, surely this brings the question that if Spike Island is ever to be a tourist attraction that it is paramount that there is an Emergency Plan in place on the island itself to deal with such an incident of this nature. Imagine if it were the buildings that were on fire last night and not the gorse!!!!!

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