Fire crew praised for saving Twin Oaks home after car went up in flames outside
GOREY FIRE SERVICE RESPONDS TO FOUR CALLS IN LESS THAN 24 HOURS
A Gorey family is thanking its lucky stars after a fire engulfed the family car just three feet from the front of their house at Twin Oaks last Thursday morning. Kevin Molloy said that the swift actions of the local crew saved their home.
‘ They were brilliant,’ he said. ‘Our house could have been gone only for them.’
Ann-Marie Molloy drove husband Kevin to work with An Post in Gorey at 5.15 a.m., returned home and drove their son Jack to work in Barnlands at 6 a.m. Back home again, and preparing to go in to work in the post office at 6.15 a.m., she smelled smoke and went outside.
‘ The driver’s side of the car was up in flames,’ said Kevin. The cause of the blaze in the 2008 Hyundai is unknown.
‘It was three feet from the house, and the front window was burst in,’ added Kevin. ‘ The PVC window frame caught fire. We’re so lucky the curtains didn’t catch fire. If that had happened, we would have been gone. A huge than you to the crew. It could have been a lot worse only for them.’
Anne Marie immediately called 999, and evacuated their two daughters and one son from the house. The fire crew arrived on scene within minutes, and brought the blaze under control, and prevented it from spreading further. They then used ventilation fans to clear the house of smoke. They left the scene at 7.25 a.m.
Hours earlier, at 12.25 a.m. they were called to deal with a bin on fire at Charlotte Grove.
Two days previously, on Tuesday at 7.25 a.m. two units attended a fire in an upstairs bedroom in Ardmore, Gorey. Three teams with breathing apparatus entered the house to extinguish the blaze and ventilate the smoke.
There were two further calls on Thursday. One unit responded to a call about a gorse fire at 12.55 p.m. behind Woodlands Drive in Gorey.
After putting out the flames, they dampened down the area.
As they were leaving at 2.20 p.m. they were alerted to smoke at the Ballytegan Road. It turned out to be a fire in a farm shed containing empty plastic tanks at St Waleran’s. They brought the blaze under control and left the scene at 4 p.m.