Girl dies after Christmas tree catches fire

A SIX-YEAR-OLD girl died after a fault with fairy lights set a Christmas tree on fire and gutted her family home during a New Year’s celebration.

Caoimhe Freyne was trapped in an upstairs bedroom as her mother frantically searched smoke-filled rooms for her. Distraught Anna Freyne waited outside the destroyed house for hours while firefighters dealt with the blaze, refusing to leave until they located her daughter's body. She then made the heartbreaking journey to her husband's hospital bedside to tell him the devastating news. Garrett Freyne was being treated for a back complaint since the previous day and had no idea of the horror that had struck his family.

The fire started at the Freyne's dormer bungalow home on the banks of the Grand Canal near the village of Ardclough four miles from Celbridge, Co Kildare, just before 4.30am yesterday.

Mrs Freyne was being kept company by a few close relatives while her husband was in hospital and the happy group had enjoyed a New Year's Eve dinner while they waited to greet the new year. They were still up when one of the family's three surviving children raised the alarm that the Christmas tree was on fire, but almost immediately it ignited fully, sending flames shooting around the sitting room.

Within seconds the fire had spread to the ceiling, sending smoke pouring into the upstairs. Caoimhe, whose body was found on her bedroom floor, is believed to have been choked by smoke and fumes.

By the time her terrified family had evacuated the downstairs rooms, the stairs were already ablaze, cutting off access to her. Firefighters from Naas, Newbridge and Maynooth fought the fire for over three hours and were only able to recover Caoimhe's body from the smouldering debris after 10am.

Caoimhe was one of four children, the middle sister of three girls with a teenage brother. Chief fire officer Michael Fitzsimons, said the family were totally overcome by the speed at which events happened. Shocked local people spoke of the grief they felt for the Freyne family. Said one: "everything is gone their little girl, their home, every stitch of clothing."