Mystery over cause of house fire that killed retired couple
Inquest hears reason could not be found
AN investigation into a house fire that killed a retired couple was unable to establish the cause of the blaze, an inquest has heard.
Michael Hurley, 70, and his wife Beatrice, 69, died from smoke inhalation as a result of the fire which broke out in their home at Beach Park, Portmarnock, Co. Dublin on December 5, 2020.
A sitting of Dublin District Coroner’s Court yesterday heard that the couple, who have five adult children, were poisoned by ‘lethal levels’ of carbon monoxide.
The couple’s son, Michael Hurley, described how he was out socialising when he received a call from a friend and neighbour of his parents, Barry Wilson, to inform him that there was a fire at their house. He said he knew the situation was serious from the tone of Mr Wilson’s voice.
Mr Hurley said he still had hope everyone was okay as he was getting a taxi to go to his parents’ address until he saw the fire himself. He knew that his parents were unlikely to have gone out as they always informed their children of their whereabouts via a WhatsApp group.
Mr Hurley, who formally identified his parents’ bodies to gardaí, told the hearing that his mother was a heavy smoker who also used a hearing aid which she tended to remove when going to bed.
He said his father, a retired Aer Lingus employee and founder of Portmarnock Squash Club, had a heart condition for which he was taking medication.
His sister, Abigail Hurley, who was the last person to see her parents alive, said she had called to them for around two hours earlier that evening. ‘They were in good form. Everything was just normal,’ she recalled. Ms Hurley said it was the first time she had been in the house for a while because of Covid19 restrictions.
A neighbour, Emma Chalkley, who raised the alarm with the emergency services, said she was watching TV when she noticed an orange colour in the sky at 9.40pm. The inquest heard she could get a strong smell when she went outside.
Ms Chalkley said the house became engulfed in flames with all the windows getting blown out.
The coroner, Aisling Gannon, noted that members of Dublin Fire Brigade were on the scene within ten minutes of the alarm being raised and discovered the body of Mr Hurley in the kitchen and that of his wife in an upstairs bedroom.
Garda Doireann Byrne said an investigation had established there was no suspicion of foul play nor any third-party involvement in the fire which had begun in a rear sitting room of the house.
While a forensic examination of the property had ruled out any electrical fault or explosion, Garda Byrne said it had not been able to establish the exact cause of the blaze. She said it was possible that Mr Hurley might have been upstairs and gone down to see what was happening, while his wife may not have been alerted to the fire because she might have removed her hearing aid.
Garda Byrne observed that there was a lot of plywood in the house which might explain why the fire caused such extensive damage in a short space of time.
In response to questions from members of the Hurley family, she said she was unaware if a fire alarm in the house had been activated by the fire.
Based on a report by pathologist Dr Kathleen Han-Suyin, the coroner concluded that Ms Hurley had died from carbon monoxide poisoning while a previously undiagnosed heart condition, consumption of alcohol and problems with her hearing were contributory factors. Ms Gannon said carbon monoxide poisoning was also the primary cause of her husband’s death, while his known heart disease was a contributory factor.
Returning verdicts of accidental death, Ms Gannon acknowledged that the inquest had left some questions unanswered but said the information was ‘as comprehensive as can be given the nature of the event’. Offering condolences to the couple’s children, the coroner said it was ‘a tragic accident’, particularly as it had occurred during the pandemic when there had been restrictions on family members seeing each other.
Ruled out electrical fault or explosion