It will stay with me forever, says hero who tried to save family from blaze
A MAN who tried to save the lives of a family who died in a horrific house fire said the harrowing images he saw will stay with him for the rest of his life.
Thomas ‘Tommy’ Fee (57), a native of Derrylin, Co Fermanagh, is the landlord of the rural bungalow that was gutted by the fatal early-morning blaze.
Mr Fee said he had been left traumatised after his attempts to save the occupants’ lives by breaking down a door and window with a sledgehammer came to nothing.
Police said the inferno claimed the lives of “at least three people”.
PSNI Superintendent Jane Humphries said police believe the fire was started deliberately.
A 27-year-old man, who was detained at the scene and transferred to hospital for treatment, was subsequently arrested on suspicion of murder.
Mr Fee, who lives less than 2kms from the tragedy, said he received a phone call at about 7am from a woman saying his bungalow was on fire.
“I headed straight down. When I got there a man was standing in the door with his hands out and spread-eagled.
“He was hysterical, he was roaring and shouting and I couldn’t make him out.
“I said to him, ‘What’s wrong, where are the rest of them?’ “He said, ‘Don’t go in there’. “I tried to move him away from the house as the slates and the felt were falling off the roof, and I told him he would get burnt, but I couldn’t get him moved.”
As the fire raged, Mr Fee and two other neighbours raced to the back of the house in a desperate attempt to save those inside.
His voice breaking, he described how their rescue attempt proved unsuccessful.
“All the bedrooms were at the back of the house, so I broke a side door and a back window with a sledgehammer, but we couldn’t see anybody,” he continued.
“We were beaten back by big balls of black smoke — the fire was ferocious.
“We couldn’t hear anyone calling either, and we kept trying to see if there was any movement, if there was someone coming out on their hands and knees – but there was no one.
“A crowd of people had gathered outside, but there was nothing they could do. It was very harrowing.
“That image will stay with me for the rest of my life, and the fact we couldn’t do anything for them.”
The PSNI and three fire appliances rushed to the scene of the blaze, which the Fire and Rescue Service said was “well-developed” when they arrived.
Mr Fee said he rented out the property a year-and-a-half ago to a family originally from Doncaster in England.
He identified them as 16-year-old Edward Gossett, his sister Diane Gossett (19), their mother Crystal Gossett, and Diane’s young daughter, who he believes was under two-years-old.
Mr Fee said that another man, who he named as Sam Quinn, also lived at the property.
The police have not yet confirmed the identities of those who lost their lives.
“I believe the family originally came from Doncaster before moving to Tralee in the Republic of Ireland, and then they saw the house I was renting advertised on the internet a year and a half ago,” said Tommy, who works as a bus operator.
“They were a nice family, they kept themselves to themselves.”
‘I broke the side doorwitha sledgehammer, but we couldn’t see anybody ... the fire was ferocious’