Children's party preparations led to fire at asylum-seekers' hostel

Preparations for a children's party almost ended in disaster when fire engulfed a kitchen at an asylum seekers' hostel in Ranelagh in Dublin yesterday.

Eleven women and their 11 children were evacuated from the hostel on Oakley Road after a television, which had been left on top of a hot stove, exploded.

The resident caretaker of the East Coast Area Health Board-run facility was alerted to the fire after hearing a loud bang coming from downstairs at around 12.30 a.m. He managed to extinguish the flames before alerting the fire brigade and evacuating the building.

Two units of the Dublin Fire Brigade and one ambulance attended at the scene. The women and children, who did not suffer any injuries, were taken to Tallaght Hospital and kept overnight as a precaution. They were released yesterday and spent last night at another hostel.

The fire occurred some hours after the residents and two staff members had gone to bed. It is understood that the women had been in the kitchen earlier preparing for a children's party due to be held at the hostel yesterday.

Two of the women had lifted a television on to the top of a cooker to make room for the party food on the kitchen counter, before going to bed. However, the cooker had been left on. The television heated up and exploded, melting into the cooker and causing the fire.

The manager of the facility, Mr Gerry Byrne, said the fire had caused no permanent damage to the building, but the kitchen was badly smoke-damaged.

"The caretakers, a husband and wife who live in, acted very quickly to put out the fire and get everybody out. We were very lucky, everybody is OK."

The health board has been leasing the home for asylum-seeking women and children for the last 10 months.

The facility has 22 residents and five staff, two of whom live in an apartment in the hostel and are always there overnight. A spokeswoman for the health board, said it was "very happy" with the staffing levels and with the staff themselves.

"We've never had any problem with this facility. It has its fire certificate and the whole situation was handled very smoothly," she said.

The chief executive of the East Coast Area Health Board, Mr Martin Gallagher, said he would carry out a review of the facility immediately as a precaution to ensure safety standards were being met. The women and children - mostly young babies - would be housed at a number of different hostels in Dublin for the next week to 10 days.

The Minister for Justice, Mr McDowell, in whose constituency the fire occurred, visited the hostel yesterday. A spokesman said he had been assured all safety procedures had worked.