Damage to more than 200 buildings estimated at £3M

The cost of the fire damage to buildings and stock in the city of Dublin was later estimated by the chief fire officer, Capt Purcell, as £2.5 million. More than 200 buildings were damaged, he told the Weekly Irish Times on May 1st, 1916. As his estimate of damages was based on rateable valuations, figure of £3 million now looks more realistic.

Sackville Street, now O'Connell Street, was very badly hit. From Cathedral Street and Earl Street, an area fronted by Clery's department store was destroyed south to the Liffey. Hopkins and Hopkins, the jewellery shop on the corner of Eden Quay, was gone as was the entire series of blocks enclosed by Sackville Street to the west, and Marlborough Street to the north. This amounted to 27,000 square yards of prime city centre property.

Among the buildings damaged or destroyed were Clery's warehouse, the Royal Hibernian Academy, Wynn's hotel, the Imperial hotel, branches of the Munster and Leinster bank and the Hibernian bank. Public houses were hit, Nagle's and Sheridan's on North Earl Street and two branches of the famous Mooney's chain, one in Lower Abbey Street, the other on Eden Quay.

On the other side of the capital's wide main street, the devastation was as bad. Fire had raged from the GPO towards the Liffey, reaching back along Henry Street to Henry Place and Moore Street, advancing towards Liffey Street, almost as far as the Irish Independent's printing works on Middle Abbey Street. On the Sackville Street frontage, the Metropole Hotel, standing between Eason and the GPO, was gone, and with it adjoining buildings including the Oval bar. Thom's printing works was destroyed.

The area affected by fire on this side of Sackville Street amounted to 34,000sq ft.

Outside the city centre, Capt Purcell said his men had dealt with serious fires affecting two houses in Harcourt Street, and also at Ushers' Quay. There the fire had spread into Bridge Street, engulfing two tenement houses and Doherty's hotel, where it was halted just short of the city's oldest inn, the Brazen Head. His men had not been able to approach the Linen Hall barracks, and the 32 clerks trapped there for four days during the Rising, had been forced to cope with two fires, the second started by bombs in a wooden structure to the rear.

The first call to the fire brigade came at 3.58pm on Monday April 24. It was from the ordnance department at Islandbridge, saying that there was a fire in the Magazine Fort in Phoenix Park which was used to store arms. The brigade found one section of the store on fire, containing large quantities of small arms and ammunition. They managed to save the remainder. Lieut John Myers (a great-uncle of Kevin Myers) of the fire brigade later denied that he was impeded in getting to the fire by armed Sinn Féiners.

What Capt Purcell describes as the "great fire" began in an auxiliary printing office owned by The Irish Times on Lower Abbey Street, backing on to Seville Place, at the side of Clery's on Thursday April 27th. As the firing made deployment too dangerous, "All I could do was to observe through a glass from our tower [on Tara Street] the progress of the flames."

From his vantage point, Capt Purcell could see Clery's burning. "I was hoping against hope it might withstand the fire but before morning it had gone the way of the rest." And with went hopes that it might act as a fire break.

The ceasefire on Saturday meant that the firemen could work in comparative safety. Or so they thought. "We were making excellent progress on both sides of Abbey street when the bullets began to fly among us." So the two motor tenders and the fire crews were withdrawn. The news came at 5.30pm that Nagle's public house in North Earl Street was burning furiously and Hickey's shop and Boyer's warehouse were at risk. Lieut John Myers and four men volunteered to tackle this outbreak. "They insured the safety of the remainder of the north side of Earl Street, including the cathedral at the back."

But it wasn't over yet. At 8pm on Saturday, Capt Purcelll received many calls from doctors and clergymen at Jervis Street hospital [on the site of the Jervis centre]. Fires were spreading nearby and if they were not stopped, the patients would have to be moved. "To the firemen's credit they one and all declared they would save the hospital, even under the bullets. We immediately hurried our available force out, recovered our engines and other apparatus from O'Connell Bridge and started out for the big fight," said Capt Purcell. He summoned help from fire crews at nearby Power's distillery and the Guinness brewery. "We fought all during Saturday night, stopping the fire where it was possible . . . and saved the hospital."

Though Pearse surrendered on Saturday, pockets of fighting continued, and most of the city remained a "no-go area" for the brigade.