A 95-year-old woman who passed away while fire crews dealt with a fire at a nursing home in Co Clare early yesterday died of natural causes, gardaí have confirmed.
The pensioner, a resident of the Lakes Nursing Home in Killaloe but believed to be from Newport in Co Tipperary, had been gravely ill during the day and had been administered the last rites earlier. She died about 20 minutes after a small fire was detected in another room and while other patients were being moved to another part of the building.
A garda was treated in hospital for smoke inhalation after he kicked down the door of another patient’s room where a fire alarm had been activated at about 12.45am. The Regional Fire Control Centre in Limerick was first alerted to the incident and they in turn notified gardaí and the ambulance service.
The garda removed a 21-year-old partially disabled man from the room and both men were later treated at the Mid Western Regional Hospital in Limerick for smoke inhalation. The officer was later discharged while the HSE has confirmed that the nursing home resident remains in hospital in a stable condition.
Fire fighters quickly extinguished the fire while personnel checked other adjoining rooms. It is understood that the room where the elderly woman was sleeping was checked by fire crews and that no traces of smoke were found. The patient was however moved, along with others, to another part of the building as a precaution. It is also understood that the woman had been accompanied by a carer at all times.
Six ambulances from counties Clare and Limerick along with a patient transport vehicle from Ennis were sent to the scene. The HSE sent all available emergency vehicles in case the residents needed to be moved to other facilities. In the end, as the small fire was contained to a single room, residents were moved internally and helped from their own rooms to other areas of the building.
A spokesman for the Lakes Nursing Home said: “We would firstly like to extend our sympathies to the family of the woman who passed away.” The spokesman added: “The nursing home’s own emergency plan was put into operation and patients in adjoining rooms were moved to another part of the building. Patients were not evacuated from the building and are still resident there.”
The spokesman also confirmed that the Health Information and Quality Authority has been informed and that a report on the incident has been sent to them. The facility is also offering counselling services to the relatives of patients as well as staff members if needed.
A postmortem examination was undertaken at the Mid Western Regional Hospital yesterday and gardaí have confirmed that the woman died of “natural causes”. Gardaí say they are continuing to investigate the cause of the fire but that the death of the pensioner was “coincidental to the fire” and not in any way associated with the fire.