A retired antiques dealer who was an expert on 18th-century furniture and art has perished in a house fire in Rathcormac, Co Cork.
Timothy Arnold (74) lost his life shortly before 9pm on Sunday when a fire broke out in his two-storey terraced house on the main street in Rathcormac.
A passerby noticed the blaze and raised the alarm.
Several hours
Three units of Fermoy Fire Brigade attended at the scene but it took fire officers several hours to bring the blaze under control.
Mr Arnold’s body was found in a downstairs room of the house. The house was extensively damaged in the incident.
It is understood Mr Arnold became overcome by smoke before he could make his way out of the property. The pensioner lived alone.
A postmortem was conducted yesterday at Cork University Hospital by Assistant State Pathologist Dr Margaret Bolster.
A probe is under way into the cause of the blaze.
The fire is being treated as a tragic accident.
Mr Arnold is survived by his two sisters who live in the United Kingdom. At the time of his death he was working on the restoration of a local run-down church in Rathcormac.
Meanwhile, in a separate incident three gardaí saved a man from a house fire in Blarney Street in Cork city last Saturday morning.
Raised alarm
A passerby raised the alarm shortly after 4am on Saturday when he noticed smoke coming from under the front door of the house.
The three gardaí from Gurranabraher station forced their way in to the home of a 30-year -old man who was asleep in bed upstairs.
Gardaí brought the man to safety prior to the arrival of the fire brigade at the scene. The rescued man has been released from hospital.