A man has escaped injury after his thatched cottage was destroyed by fire in Co Clare this evening.

The fire broke out at around 5.15pm at the property in Bellharbour in the north of the county.

It’s understood that a passerby spotted flames coming from the chimney and alerted the occupant.

The fire service was called and told there was a chimney fire at the property.

A unit of the fire brigade from Ennistymon was sent to the incident. However while en route, fire crews were told the incident had been upgraded to a domestic fire.

A second appliance from Ennistymon was then dispatched to the incident.

On arrival at the scene, fire crews found the building ‘well alight’ and requested additional resources. Two units of the fire service from Gort, Co Galway were also sent to the scene.

While one cottage has been completely destroyed, fire crews have prevented the fire from spreading to an adjacent unoccupied property.

Gardaí also attended the scene while fire crews are expected to be dealing with the incident for several hours yet.