Athlone fire service extinguishes blaze at rugby club

The Athlone fire service was called to a fire which occurred on the grounds of Buccaneers Rugby Club in the early hours of this morning (Monday).

A local fire service representative said a privately-operated sauna at the rugby club caught fire after midnight, and a person on the grounds of the club raised the alarm after noticing the smoke.

One unit of the Athlone fire service attended the scene at 12.30am, and, having extinguished the blaze, the firefighters departed at 1.10am.

The damage caused by the incident is understood to have been confined to the sauna and to a pergola next to it.

The fire service representative told the Westmeath Independent it was fortunate the blaze had been detected at an early stage, before it had a chance to spread further.