A fire which spread through a family home in what seems to have been minutes has claimed the lives of a 39-year-old man and his two daughters. They died when the blaze swept through their home in Dundalk, Co Louth, early yesterday morning.
"One second the fire was downstairs and the next it seemed to be all over the house," said one shocked neighbour in the Castle Ross estate.
The dead were named locally as Mr Eddie Walls and his daughters, three-year-old Teresa and her 18- month-old sister Natasha.
A painter and decorated, he had celebrated his 39th birthday on Saturday and had also joined his next-door neighbours in celebrating the christening of their three-week-old baby. However, some time after 1 a.m. he was back at home with his family when the fire started and left their home a shell.
The fire brigade was there within minutes of the call. It is believed his wife, Michelle, jumped from the house to safety.
She was brought to the Louth County Hospital but released yesterday; her family is comforting her in her native town of Forkhill, Co Armagh.
The bravery of neighbours and gardaí in trying to rescue the children and their father came to light yesterday and was confirmed by gardaí.
Local Garda Supt Michael Staunton said: "Neighbours had attempted to enter the house but because of the ferocity of the fire this was not possible. When gardaí arrived they also tried to get in to the house at the rear but again to no avail." It was a "terrible tragedy and we are investigating the cause", he said.
At one point Garda Mick Sheridan held a ladder on top of a wheelie bin and another man stood on it and smashed a window with a chair. The glass burst and smoke came billowing out but they were unable to get to those trapped inside.
The deaths, and particularly the speed with which the fire took hold and gutted the house, have shocked their neighbours and friends. The speed with which the fire spread through the terraced house left neighbours and the rescue services with little chance of getting them out.
A neighbour, Ms Michelle McCormack, said: "In a matter of minutes the fire went up through the top of the house. I saw the flames coming out of the upstairs room, it was already in the downstairs. There were fire brigade people everywhere. This is just wicked."
She said they were a very quiet family and lived for their children. "They were always with the kids; no matter where they went the kids were with them, she lived for her family".
Flowers were laid outside the gutted house by five-year-old Leona Burns who lives across from the family.
Her mother Lisa said: "This is terrifying. People said they were trapped upstairs. I came out last night and saw the place in flames and you couldn't see two feet in front of yourself."
The house is one of 28 which Dundalk Town Council purchased two years ago for people on the waiting list for local authority houses.
Town councillor Mr Seamus Byrne visited the scene yesterday morning. He said it was "horrific and has left people in shock and despair".