Firefighter tells of bid to rescue his colleagues

A firefighter fought back tears as he told an inquest of his desperate attempts to rescue two colleagues trapped in an inferno at a disused ink factory.

Eddie McCann told the inquest into the deaths of Bray firefighters Brian Murray, aged 46, and Mark O’Shaughnessy, aged 25, that the men who went into the building to rescue them were hit with a wall of “incredible heat”.

“It was like someone hitting you with a brick,” he said.

Mr Murray and Mr O’Shaughnessy died when they became trapped in the fire at the disused factory at Adelaide Villas in Bray, Co Wicklow, on September 26, 2007.

Last year, Wicklow County Council was fined €355,000 after pleading guilty to health and safety violations in relation to the incident.

On the fifth day of the inquest at Dublin Coroner’s Court yesterday, Mr McCann said he and Tony Horan went into the building on at least five occasions.

Mr Horan told the inquest they could not stay in there long on each attempt because their clothes and equipment were catching fire. “I kept having to pat Eddie to put out the flames on him. I thought at times I was going to die,” he said.

Mr Horan found Mr O’Shaughnessy on his final attempt.

Mr Murray’s body was discovered seconds later by firefighter Denys Horgan, who told the inquest the man was lying face down in water and foam.

The inquest continues.