The man who died in a St Stephen’s Day house fire in Co Kerry had been due to lead a charity fundraiser for cancer services, bringing a group of 500 people and the Sam Maguire Cup up a local mountain top.
Johnny ‘The Rock’ O’Brien, who was in his mid-60s, was due to lead the group of walkers in the Sam to the Summit climb up the Paps mountains near his home in Glenflesk in East Kerry on St Stephen’s Day morning.
Mr O’Brien, a bachelor who lived alone, died when fire broke out at his two-storey farmhouse at Drominaheree, Glenflesk on the N22 main Cork-Killarney road just after midnight on December 26th.
The alarm was raised by a passing motorist. Several units of the Kerry County Fire Service from Killarney battled the blaze which was well developed when they arrived at the scene.
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Firefighters using breathing apparatus later recovered the body of the farmer and his remains have been brought to University Hospital Kerry for a post-mortem examination on Tuesday.
Gardaí do not believe there was anything suspicious about the fire but Garda technical experts have begun a forensic examination to try and establish the exact site and cause of the blaze.
Local Glenflesk Fianna Fáil Cllr Niall Kelleher led the tributes to the late Mr O’Brien, whom he described as a popular and well-respected member of the local community in Glenflesk.
“Johnny was well known and well liked in the community, so it was a real shock to people waking up here this morning to hear the news that he had died in a house fire – it’s very sad and tragic news.
“He was a great man for rare cattle breeds and was very knowledgeable about them – he would have had Shorthorns and he had a couple of Kerry cows and some Jacob sheep as well.”
Some 500 people did the fundraising walk, and raised over €20,000, with proceeds going to the Brian Lawlor Trust, and the Kerry-Cork Cancer Link bus service.
“They would have passed Johnny’s house on the way to registration and I’m sure there wasn’t one of them that climbed the Paps that didn’t think of him and his sad passing as they made their way up.”
Mr O’Bren is the second person in Munster to die in a house fire over the Christmas season, following the death of 86-year-old widower Sean Lynch in a house fire in Carrigaline in Co Cork on December 23rd.
