A MOTHER and her three young children who had a narrow escape from a house fire on Christmas Day were expected to be released from hospital in full health yesterday after receiving treatment for smoke inhalation and some superficial burns.
The lives of Vivienne Kellet (28), from Tallaght in Dublin, and her children would have been lost “without a doubt” were it not for their working fire alarm, according to the station officer at Tallaght fire station, Alan Dillon, who was speaking yesterday after having attended the scene of the incident on Christmas Day.
Ms Kellet was woken by the alarm after a fire developed in her living room shortly before 3.30am on Christmas morning. The alarm also woke several of her neighbours who rushed to the scene and helped Ms Kellet to pass her three children Ellen (10), Thomas (3) and Eric (six months) out through a small window.
Three units from the Tallaght and Dolphin’s Barn fire stations arrived on the scene after responding to a call from Ms Kellet. Fire fighters equipped with breathing apparatus worked their way through the house where they found Ms Kellet after she had successfully managed to help all three of her children escape onto a roof extension where neighbours were waiting for them.
The firefighters then rescued Ms Kellet from the upstairs bedroom, through what the firefighters involved described as “zero visibility” in the house due to smoke.
“The salutary lesson here is that the family were alerted by the smoke alarm in the house,” said Mr Dillon, who spoke on RTÉ Radio yesterday.
“Without a doubt in my mind, the smoke alarm saved this family. We could have been dealing with a very tragic outcome.”
The presence of a working smoke alarm was also credited by one of the neighbours, David Fitzgerald, who helped to rescue the children. Mr Fitzgerald said that he was woken by the alarm to find his neighbouring house engulfed in flames.
Along with others from the area, including his brother Raymond, Mr Fitzgerald helped the children, whom he described as being “shocked” by the incident, down off the roof.
After being treated by paramedics on the scene, the family were then taken to hospital, where they spent Christmas Day.