It was a night of celebration that turned to tragedy. Two young men died and a third was being treated in Beaumont hospital for smoke inhalation after attempting to rescue his friends from the fire which gutted his home in Artane, Dublin, early yesterday morning.
Mr Darren Finn raised the alarm and tried to get Mr Leo Reilly (26) and Mr Des McGirl (38) of Ballykea, Skerries, out of the semi-detached dormer bungalow at Brookwood Heights in the Dublin suburb, when the fire broke out at about 4.15 a.m.
Mr Finn had collected Mr Reilly and Mr McGirl from a Christmas party near the airport because they did not want to drink and drive. They returned to Artane where Mr Finn and Mr Reilly shared the house, at about 1.30 a.m. and less than three hours later the fire started in the front sitting room of the house.
The two men are believed to have died from smoke inhalation. Garda forensic experts have ruled out electricity or gas as the cause of the blaze and there was no coal fire in the hearth. Det Inspt Michael Finn of Raheny Garda station, said there was no reason to believe the fire was anything other than accidental.
"We interviewed the young man in hospital and he had raised the alarm," said Supt John Long, also of Raheny garda station. "He was fortunate that the smoke alarm was tied into the alarm system and it activated the alarm." Supt Long added.
The charred remains of the ceiling rafters could be seen through the roof where tiles had burnt out and the front window was blown out after what some neighbours described as an explosion. The blaze travelled across the attic to the next door neighbour's where a couple and their three children were alerted by their dog who started barking, according to detectives.
A cousin of Mr Reilly was comforted by a garda as she looked at the burnt-out house. Ms Fran Creed, described him as a "loving young fellow. He was good and kind. Those boys were great." Mr Finn's distraught parents, Anne and Tom Finn, who live just five doors down from him, described how their son had gone to collect his friends from the party near the airport. "They went to bed. He woke up with the alarm going off," said Mr Finn. "He tried to save them. He banged on our front window and set off the alarm," said Mr Finn.
"His hair was singed and his face all black," said Mrs Finn. "His two friends are dead and he's in hospital." Her husband added: "He's on oxygen. He suffered a lot of smoke inhalation."
At Mr Reilly's parents' home in Grange Park Walk, Raheny, friends and neighbours called to express their condolences. "Leo used to work for Servis Air and they invited him to their Christmas dinner," said his father, Mr Leo Reilly snr.
"His friend [Des McGirl] lived in Skerries. It was too far to go to Skerries so they brought him back to the house. They were all friends. Leo and Darren were great buddies."
Mr Reilly, an ex-member of the Artane Boys band, was full of life, said his father. His mother, Mrs Margaret Reilly, brought out a photograph of her son for reporters. He had moved from Servis Air for ITS Maritime, a customs clearance company. "And he had just got an offer of another job," she said. "Darren is just in bits," said Mr Reilly. "The house went up like a bomb. It went up so quickly."
Mr Reilly shared the house with Darren for about 12 months, according to his father. "They had done up the house. Darren had it rented out for years and they re-did all the heating themselves."
A neighbour said he woke at about 4.20 a.m. and smelt smoke. "Half the front window was on fire and then very quickly the whole front window was in a blaze," said the man, who did not wish to be identified.
