The Kerryman (South Kerry Edition)
FIRE RESCUE HERO RECEIVES GARDA COMMENDATION
KERRY NATIVE SAVED THREE CHILDREN AND FATHER FROM SHANNON FIRE
A DETECTIVE from Moyvane was honoured at last week’s garda awards ceremony for his part in the rescue of three children and their father from a house fire in Shannon in 2005.
The day marked a moving swansong for the garda who retired last year from the force after 34 years’ service.
Retired Gda Det Gerard Flaherty (61) was commended by Commissioner Nóirín O’Sullivan for his part in saving the lives of the 30-year-old man, the man’s seven-year-old twins and three-year-old child from a fire that had been deliberately started.
It was Mr Flaherty’s local knowledge gleaned from years policing Shannon town that got them to the scene of the fire within minutes of the call-out.
“I knew exactly where the house was having worked in Shannon for so long. We arrived at the scene to see smoke billowing out from the ground floor and flames inside,” Mr Flaherty told The Kerryman.
The flames and smoke pre- vented the Moyvane man and his two colleagues, Sergeant David Condren and Det Garda Stephen Ryan, from gaining entry as the man and children stood inside the closed window of an upstairs bedroom.
“We managed to get a ladder off a neighbour and Stephen went up first and eventually got the man to open the window.”
Standing in the middle of the ladder under Det Ryan, Mr Flaherty became the centre of a human chain as they hoisted the children and, lastly, their father down to safety.
“It was all over in a matter of minutes and looking back it was probably a good thing the man had not opened the window sooner as the air would have probably made the fire spread faster.
“It was certainly the worst fire I attended in my career, with young children involved.”
Mr Flaherty, who passed out of Templemore in 1981, was posted to Shannon town in 1986; spending his last eight years as garda detective in passport control at Shannon Airport.