A fire that broke out at Cootehill Livestock Mart, Co. Cavan, caused the complete destruction of the auctioneer’s box but within 36 hours and the help of locals, it was business as usual for the weekly weanling sale!
Ring two at Cootehill mart was impacted last week by fire damage with the entire rostrum (auctioneer’s box) reduced to cinders, according to mart manager, Geoffrey Drury, who believes an electrical fault was the cause.
He told Agriland that when he arrived at the mart on the morning of the fire, he was met with a smell of smoke.
“I came in with a load of cattle that morning and when I got out of the tractor I got the smell of smoke, but I thought that maybe it was someone burning bushes.
“I let off the load of cattle and I went in to set up the laptop.
“I went into the ring and the rostrum was completely burnt to a cinder. That was the first we knew of it. The power was all off at this stage,” Geoffrey said.
He said the sight before him gave him “an awful fright” but he was glad that nobody was hurt.
“The auctioneer’s box was burnt to a cinder, there was nothing left except the steel in the two chairs, and the skylights in the roof were melted also.”
Geoffrey said that the fire had started to burn a leg of the large seating area around the ring but, thankfully, it didn’t take off.
“What made it stop, I will never know. It burnt the leg and it went no further.”
Despite the fire damage, the mart proceeded as normal that day in ring one – both online and in-person.
And with many hands, ring two was back in action and the rostrum structure rebuilt, just two days later.
Both rings are now fully operational.
Geoffrey paid tribute to everyone who worked tirelessly to get the ring back in shape again: Samuel Thompson and the Mountview Engineering team; Padraig Brady Electrical; Hugh McNern in LSL Auctions; Thomas Farrell, Annaghlee; Carroll TV; Thomas Smith, tradesman; and all mart staff who helped clean and get everything ready in such a short timeframe.
“We have to thank everyone, they were all on the ball,” said Geoffrey.
Geoffrey and son Steven took over the lease of Cootehill mart in March 2021 following its closure in February 2020.
When the Brady family opened the mart initially back in the 1960s, Geoffrey’s father, Archie, was the first farmer through the doors with his cattle.
And on two subsequent occasions when the mart reopened under new management, Geoffrey himself was the first farmer in. Having also worked there for several years, when the chance came to reopen the mart, he was delighted to go for it.
Things have been going very well so far with three sales (online and in person) running on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday.