A garda was last night hailed a hero after he saved the life of a 79-year-old man trapped in a house fire.
Garda Roger O'Donoghue, from Newcastlewest Garda station in Co Limerick, dragged the pensioner to safety through a window of his burning cottage on the Barna side of Newcastlewest at 5 a.m. yesterday.
Mr John Wray, originally from Yorkshire in England, was living alone in the house and was asleep in his downstairs bedroom when a fire started in his kitchen.
The 79-year-old managed to telephone for help but did not give the exact location of his house.
"The fire-brigade contacted us and we headed in the general direction, but it was pitch dark and only for the wind was blowing the smoke across the road I might not have found the house in time," explained Garda O'Donoghue.
