Fire guts home of local woman

A South Offaly woman whose home was gutted and her personal belongings destroyed in a fire last Friday says that she is “still in shock”.

Teacher Deirdre Dooley from Clareen, Birr, and her partner Kevin Naughton were alseep in their mobile home in Ardmore, Connemara, when the fire broke out in the early hours of Friday March 2.

While the couple managed to get out, all of their personal belongings were destroyed in the blaze, which is believed to have been started by an electrical fault. To make a bad situation worse, the building was uninsured.

Speaking to the Offaly Independent, an emotional Deirdre said that her partner Kevin, who suffered minor burns, had managed to quell the flames with an extinguisher, but the fact that pipes were frozen prevented them from putting it out completely. By the time the Fire Service had arrived from Clifden all of the serious damage had been done.

“It [the fire] took off again [after it had been quelled] and we had to run. We reversed the car and it blew up literally in minutes.”

Now staying with Kevin parents, Ms Dooley says that they are still coming to terms with the events of last weekend.

“I don't know where to start. You're standing looking at all you've worked for gone into ashes. It's just horrific. It's hard. You keep going over things. I'm glad it's cleaned up [the remains of the building were taken away this week], you realise when you're standing there just how lucky you are.”

A GoFundMe fund page had been set up for the couple.

If you would like to contribute to Deirdre and Kevin's fund, visit www.gofundme.com/dee-dooleyampkevin-naughton-fire-fund.