Man killed in Rathmines house fire is named

The man who was killed in a house fire in Rathmines, Dublin on Thursday has been named as Jason Coll.

Dublin Fire Brigade attended the blaze at 34 Grove Park just after 7am. Three people were taken to St James’s Hospital from the scene and Mr Coll, aged in his 40s, was subsequently pronounced dead. The other two people were not seriously injured.

While Dublin Fire Brigade has yet to establish the cause, it is understood the fire was accidental. Gardaí said there was no suspicion around the incident and they were continuing to investigate.

The period house, which contains three floors, is understood to be divided into eight flats.

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The fire is understood to have spread from the lower level of the house to the top floor, where Mr Coll was staying.

Local councillor Anne Feeney said: “It’s obviously very tragic, particularly when there’s a death involved. Hopefully the others will recover fully.

“There’s quite a number of houses on that road with flats but there’s also a number of houses that are residential, that are just owner occupied houses.

“They’re reasonably sized houses and they’re very close to the city centre so it makes them attractive for housing. Rathmines would traditionally be an area for flats.”

A resident who lives on the top floor said he was woken by a neighbour banging on his door. “When I came out the smoke was already over my head,” he said. “The smoke was totally black, you couldn’t see.”

Another resident who lives on the ground floor said he realised a fire had broken out after the windows above his flat were blown out.

“Obviously you hear fire alarms all the time, but the windows at the back just blew out and that’s when I knew it was serious,” he said.

“The whole apartment [on the middle floor] was just gutted with flames...It’s absolutely tragic, it’s awful.”

Neighbours on the street arrived at the scene moments before Dublin Fire Brigade with ladders for residents in the building to escape.