Inquest highlights potential dangers of leaving heaters on overnight

THE potential dangers involved in leaving electric heaters switched on overnight have been highlighted at an inquest into the death of a Kerry man who perished in a fire at his home during last November’s cold snap.

Fire services believe Timothy Crowley, Lisheen, Gneeveguilla, Rathmore who was in his late 30s, died in a blaze caused by an electric fire left on overnight.

The alarm was raised by neighbours who spotted smoke coming from the house.

Mr Crowley had been out the night before and a neighbour spotted him driving home at about 10.30pm on the night of Saturday, November 6.

At about 9.45am the following morning another neighbour, Donal O’Connor, heard a crackling noise and saw smoke billowing from Mr Crowley’s two-storey farmhouse.

In a statement read out at the inquest in Killarney yesterday, Mr O’Connor said the house was on fire and slates on the roof were breaking. He attempted to gain entry to the house but could not get past the hallway because of dense smoke.

He could see there was a body in the downstairs of the house.

Michael O’Brien of Killarney Fire Service, who was the incident commander on the day, said the fire caused the upstairs bedroom of Mr Crowley’s house to collapse into a downstairs room.

There was an electric bar heater in use in the upstairs room where the fire started and it was believed it was the cause of the blaze.

Gardaí said the badly burnt remains of the deceased were found in the sitting room and Mr Crowley was later formally identified through dental records.

A jury returned a verdict of accidental death following evidence from the coroner that Mr Crowley died as a result of acute carbon monoxide poisoning and inhalation of smoke as a result of a house fire.

South Kerry coroner Terence Casey said the tragic case highlighted the dangers of leaving an electric fire switched on overnight.

“Hopefully, we will learn from this disaster to prevent it happening again,” he said.