Breathing apparatus 'isloated' tragic firefighter

A firefighter who died when he fell into a blazing building was isolated from his colleagues because of his breathing equipment, an inquest heard today.

Joe McCloskey, 50, had no radio and was unable to call for help when he plunged through the roof of a burning storeroom in Limavady, Co Derry, in November 2003.

Fellow firefighter Stephen Loughlin was helping him make a hole in the structure using sledgehammers and his first pleas for help could not be heard because of the breathing apparatus.

“It seemed like forever, I can’t even remember how I got off the roof, it could have been seconds, I don’t know,” Mr Loughlin told the Derry hearing.

He added that he was not aware of the extent of the fire, which may have been fuelled by a propane gas cylinder.

Mr McCloskey, a father-of-five from Station Road, Dungiven, died in hospital after sustaining severe burns.

Barrister for the family, Gary McHugh, said: “You were not in a position, either of you, to communicate by radio to the breathing apparatus tallyman or anyone.

“The flip side of that is that nobody on the ground as it were, would have been fit to communicate with you short of shouting up or gesturing.”