‘Inseparable’ sisters die in pub fire

TWO sisters who were inseparable in life died together early yesterday in a fire that gutted the three-storey public house they ran in Killorglin, Co Kerry.

Named locally as Rhetta McSwiney and Anne O’Shea, in their mid to late-60s, they were believed to be asleep upstairs in O’Shea’s pub, Langford Street, when the fire broke out.

They were aunts of former All-Star Kerry footballer Billy O’Shea who won an all-Ireland medal with Kerry in 1997.

An auctioneer in Killorglin, he was very close to the sisters whom he helped out in the pub.

Only the smoke-blackened shell of the premises, one of the best-known in Killorglin, remained, as Garda forensic experts carried out an examination to determine the cause of the fire.

It is thought to have started in the downstairs section, but the cause is not believed to be suspicious.

The street was cordoned off until lunchtime and bunches of flowers were left at the front door of the pub.

The alarm was raised at 2.47am after passersby had seen smoke coming through windows over the bar. Gardaí were quickly on the scene, which is about 100m from the Garda station.

Two units of Killorglin fire brigade, which had been told two people were trapped in the building, rushed to the scene and were joined by firemen from Killarney and Tralee.

Six units were at the scene at one stage and the fire was fought for four hours.

Local people and gardaí broke down the main door of the pub, but were beaten back by heat and flames as they tried to leave the bar area to go upstairs.

The second storey was totally engulfed in flames, which were coming through the windows, when the first unit of the Killorglin fire brigade unit arrived.

The roof partially collapsed and there was a fear that the fire would spread to adjoining buildings from which people were evacuated.

Two firemen with breathing apparatus went up the stairs and found one of the women on top of the stairs.

Her body was then brought out, but the remains of the other sister were not found for a number of hours.

Killorglin fire station officer John Foley said: “We had to retreat from the building because of the intensity of the fire and then had to fight it from outside. We were also concerned about the fire spreading to other properties, but succeeded in containing it.”

Garda Supt Michael O’Donovan, Caherciveen, paid tribute to two local people who raised the alarm after seeing smoke coming from the building.

He declined to speculate on the cause of the fire, pending the outcome of forensic tests and postmortem examinations.