A fire which claimed the lives of two young Cabra brothers probably was caused by a deep-fat fryer, Dublin City Coroner's Court heard yesterday.
Ian Kearns Kidd (7) and Ciaran Kearns Kidd (3), of Bannow Road, Cabra, Dublin, were pronounced dead on arrival at Temple Street Children's Hospital after a fire in their home on February 1st, 1998.
Their mother, Ms Lisa Kearns Kidd, stated in her deposition that she went downstairs about 8 a.m. and saw the fire in the converted front room where her sons were sleeping in a bunk bed. She shouted to Ian but he did not appear to hear her.
Ciaran passed her and she thought he had gone out the open front door.
She woke her husband and they carried their youngest son, James, and a nephew, Jordan, whom they were baby-sitting, to safety from the upstairs bedroom.
They also alerted Mr John Mooney, who was asleep upstairs, and Ms Caroline Giles and Mr Ross Clements, who were sleeping in the kitchen/living room.
Mr Brian Kidd described the frantic attempts which he and his wife made to rescue their sons but said there was thick black smoke and flames in the house. He pushed his wife outside and asked their friends to keep her there, but she came back into the house.
Firemen found Ciaran's body in the bathroom and Ian, still in his bunk, in the front room.
Det Garda Kevin Brooks said he examined the house and found the seat of the fire was in the kitchen.
A deep-fat fryer had melted on to the floor and the spread pattern of the fire indicated it had started where the fryer was found. There was no evidence that the fire had started in the front downstairs bedroom even though Ms Kidd had seen smoke and flames there and none of the witnesses had referred to the deep-fat fryer being in use.
Det Garda Brooks said the most probable conclusion, based on his investigation, was that the fire had started in the kitchen and spread to the rest of the house.
Post-mortem examinations showed that Ciaran died of smoke inhalation and that Ian suffered severe burns. However, he, too, had inhaled a considerable amount of smoke, and the coroner, Dr Brian Farrell, said that he appeared to have been rendered unconscious by this.
The fact that his mother could not rouse him when she shouted seemed to indicate this, the coroner said.
The jury returned verdicts of accidental death in both cases.