Fatal fire in Cavan may have started in chimney

A fire in Co Cavan which killed a woman and seriously injured her elderly mother yesterday may have started in the chimney, according to gardai.

Ms Jean McCabe (36) died in Cavan General Hospital following the fire at her home at Barconnet, Ballyjamesduff. Her mother, Nan, who is in her 60s, suffered serious burns and was transferred to St James's Hospital in Dublin, where her condition was described as critical.

The alarm was raised by neighbours at about 1 a.m., according to the county's acting chief fire officer, Mr Liam Henry. "The fire service at Ballyjamesduff was notified at about 1.20 a.m. and was on the scene within about 15 minutes," he said. "That unit called for back-up as they approached the scene. They could see it was a serious blaze, and a second unit came from Cavan. All that was left was the four walls and the chimney."

The house was a detached, two-storey building and quite old, he added.

The Irish Times has reported the deaths of 14 people in domestic fires in this State since the start of the winter. Of these, eight were elderly people, seven of whom were living alone. Three were aged 13 or under.

Official figures for the five-month period from October last year are not yet available, although provisional figures from the Department of the Environment indicate that there were 51 fatalities caused by fires in 1999. This compares with 45 in 1998.

The most recent death of an elderly person caused by a domestic fire was that of Mrs Eileen McAndrew (73), of Binghams town, Belmullet, Co Mayo. She died on February 11th in a fire believed to have been caused by candles she had lit during an ESB blackout.

On December 29th, 1999, Mr Michael Murnaghan (69) died at his home at Drumgor, Latton, Co Monaghan. On December 22nd, Mr Patrick Grace (75) died at a fire in his mobile home near Durrow, Co Laois.

The youngest person to die in a domestic fire since October was 18-month-old Sarah Walsh, who died with her brother, Jason (3), at a fire in their home in Athy, Co Kildare, on October 28th, 1999.

According to the National Safety Council, those at greatest risk of dying in a domestic fire are the under-12s and the over-60s.