Young man praised as baby rescued from Dublin fire

A young man has been praised after saving a child from a burning house in Dublin’s inner city.

Six people, four adults and two children, were taken to hospital following the house fire on Gloucester Place off Seán MacDermott Street. It is understood that they are being treated for smoke inhalation and that one of the women has undergone surgery for other injuries.

Dublin Fire Brigade said it was notified of the incident at 5.04am and that six units were sent to the scene as well as four ambulances. A baby was thrown from a window of the house to a male bystander on the street.

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Dublin Fire Brigade members at the scene of a house fire on Gloucester Place off Seán McDermott Street. Photograph: Dara Mac Dónaill / The Irish Times

Mark Furlong (20), who caught three-month-old baby Mila when she was thrown from the upstairs window by her father Derek Healy, said he and his cousin and heard screams for help and just ran towards the scene of the fire.

“I was just out with my cousin having a bit of fresh air and hear this screaming up the road. I took a walk up and turned to my right down the cul de sac and there was a house on fire.

“I ran down with my cousin and I heard someone screaming ‘help’. I saw a baby outside the window and I looked up through the smoke.”

The child’s father was holding her outside the open upstairs window.

“He said ‘catch the baby’ so I just dived over the wall and he threw it down to me and I caught it,” Mr Furlong said.

He said he did not think about what he was doing but just cradled his arms and caught the child.

“There was nobody else around, I just had to catch her.”

He said the baby’s father had dangled her out and then “just kind of nudged” her forward.

“I just put my arms out like getting a rugby ball. She started smiling at me when she came down. She just started giggling. I handed the baby to someone else and my cousin was running through another house with another fella to go around the back way.”

Mr Furlong said the fire was very hot and intense.

“I could just feel my face burning.”

Mr Furlong and his cousin Aaron (17) ran around the back of the house where they assisted in bringing the other child Lola (three) to safety.

“I just ran straight through after my cousin. When I got out the back I seen everyone panicking so I just dived over the wall and tried to grab as many people out as I could.”

The window of the house blew out at one point, knocking Aaron off the wall.

Aaron said there was “no way” the baby could have been rescued from the house even minutes later.

Neighbours said the fire broke out at about 5am and that they had heard activity outside and opened their hall doors to see the house in flames.

Christine Lyons, who lives next door to the family, said she saw the baby being dropped from the window by her father Derek into the arms of Mr Furlong. She had called the emergency services, who were on the scene swiftly.

Therese Ryan, who had been staying with her sister next door to the house where the blaze broke out , said she was in shock at what had happened.

“I just heard them screaming and I ran down the stairs and opened my hall door and a load of fire hit me,” she said. “We had no choice but to run for the back yard.”

Ms Ryan said she witnessed one occupant of the house on the ground after she had jumped out a window.

A Dublin Fire Brigade spokesman said the two children were taken to Temple Street Hospital and the four adults were brought to the Mater hospital.

Their names were reported locally as Edel Murphy, Charlene Murphy, Derek Healy, Gary Murphy (16) and babies Mila and Lola.

Gardaí from Store Street station were at the scene and are expected to carry out a technical examination later to determine if further investigation is necessary.

Three fire engines were still on the scene today as crews worked on the building. Smoke was still pouring from a blackened upstairs window even after 9am.

Lord Mayor of Dublin Christy Burke, who was at the scene, said he wanted to congratulate the community, in particular the young man who had saved one of the children from the burning house.

“Six people are in hospital. They are not seriously ill, thank God, but the main thing is that the three families here have to be housed.”

Mr Burke said he had been in contact with the city manager to ask that he do what he could to make life comfortable for them.