Farmer shocked by second blaze

A huge blaze has destroyed an agricultural premises in Johnstown, Navan, for the second time in just 15 months, leaving a disbelieving local farmer in shock. Last Thursday night, 27th September, a fire started in the outbuildings of a yard at St Martha's, Johnstown, leased by farmer Edmund Curtis. It is understood that repairs, renovations and re-wiring were only recently completed after a fire wrecked the same premises in June of last year. Gardai are investigating the incident but the cause of this latest outbreak is not yet known. Winter feedstuffs and straw helped ignite the blaze, leaving the facility effectively beyond repair. "When I received the phone call about the fire, I just couldn't believe it," Mr Curtis said this week. "It is only 15 months since there was a fire in the same yard. There was extensive damage to the buildings and a lot of my livestock feed was destroyed," he said. The alarm was raised at around 11.45pm on Thursday night and eight units of the Meath Fire Service attended the blaze that raged until 7am the next morning, at which point two units remained to control the remants of the fire, which was still burning out yesterday (Tuesday) morning. Navan gardaí are investigating the incident but say no arrests have yet been made. "The fire brigade fought very hard to bring it under control. I'd like to thank my family, friends and neighbours for all their support on the night and over the last few days," added Mr Curtis. One of an onlooking group that had gathered praised the local fire units which contained the situation on either side of the burning builing but, more importantly, preserved a diesel tank from being touched by spreading flames. In June of last year, Mr Curtis was attending Meath's Leinster football semi-final against Dublin in Croke Park when he got the bad news that his shed was on fire. In that fire, the straw shed was ablaze and two units from Navan Fire Service rushed to the scene. They were joined also by an appliance from Nobber Fire Service. Fire crews brought the blaze under control but it took several hours for the fire to be dampened down. A shed full of round bales of straw in a pit area was destroyed in the blaze. No cause was established for this fire either.