‘We need to get out of here now’

LUCKY ESCAPE?Five people were lucky to escape with their lives after this house on Peter Street in Westport went up in flames.?Pic: Neill O’Neill

‘We need to get out of here now’


Westport family’s house engulfed in flames

Áine Ryan

IT could have been five fatalities but this Westport family had a lucky escape in the early hours of Sunday morning last when their town-centre home became engulfed in flames.
It doesn’t matter that they have lost many treasured possessions – a wedding album, jewellery, phones, laptops, clothes, the roof over their heads, a third-generation family home.  They just feel lucky to be alive, said Natasha McGreal last night. She told The Mayo News that one relieved friend said: “It must have been your Nan that was looking down on you.”
Nine years ago Londoner Natasha’s granny died in a house fire.
Last Saturday night started out as a happy night for close family, Natasha and Westport native SeΡn McGreal and their two daughters, Niamh (14) and Faye (9), and SeΡn’s sister, Katie, who was visiting.
“We had a lovely evening and after we came home, SeΡn and I stayed up talking for a while and then I had promised to sleep in with Faye on the middle floor, and SeΡn headed up to our room in the attic. I woke up around 5.15am and thought I could smell smoke but checked everywhere and decided my nose was playing up and went back to bed,” Natasha said.
She continued: “I dozed off but wasn’t sleeping very well and woke up again at 6am. Everything was a bit hazy and I went up to our room and it was filled with smoke and I saw flames coming from the back of my bedside locker. I just said to SeΡn, ‘We need to get out of here now’.”
She told The Mayo News she is ‘so proud’ of her older daughter, Niamh who remained calm and acted so quickly in wakening her younger sister.
“She literally went in and got her sister out,” she explained.
Within minutes the family, with Katie and Willow, the dog, were out on the street. Natasha was in such shock she ran back into the house to get a coat when she realised she was in her nightdress. However, soon after, she stopped her husband from returning to the family home in an effort to save some of their treasured possessions.
“The flames were so high at this stage, I couldn’t believe it had engulfed the house so quickly. But at this stage the fire brigade had arrived, and I was beginning to realise it could have been so different.
Friends have been saying how awful it is to have lost so much, but Natasha’s answer is a simple one: “I had the luckiest day of my life. My home is where my family is, and we still have each other.”

Emergency response
SPEAKING to The Mayo News last night, Mr Seamus Murphy, Chief Fire Officer, confirmed that most of the fire was on the third floor in an attic room. McGreal’s family home is an end-of-terrace house on Peter Street – the house where both SeΡn’s parents and grandparents once lived.
“We received an emergency call at 6.20am on Sunday morning and when the Westport Fire Brigade responded within minutes, a group of people had gathered outside the house. Our committed firefighters put on breathing apparatus and went inside to ensure everyone was out and safe. Two units from Castlebar were also deployed while the platform was used to facilitate extinguishing the fire in the roof,” Mr Murphy said.  
“Most of the burning was done in the attic where there was severe damage and there was also a lot of smoke and water damage in the rest of the house. We will have to await the Garda forensic report to assess the cause of the fire,” he continued.
He said that the main fire was under control within 30 minutes, but it took some hours to dampen down the scene and make the house safe.
One local who witnessed the fire said the family was very lucky to have escaped unscathed, as the flames were ‘rising out of the roof’ when he came on the scene.  Another neighbour likened the sounds she heard to fireworks.