Baby dies with parents and siblings in Omagh fire

A couple and their five children were feared dead today in one of the North’s worst ever fire tragedies.

The youngest of the victims was a baby, just months old, neighbours said.

Flames swept through a terrace house at Lammy Crescent, Omagh, Co Tyrone.

Fire crews from Omagh and neighbouring towns and villages fought the blaze, which apparently started on the first floor at around 4.30am.

The tiled roof collapsed and neighbours said there was little they could do to save the family, some of whom were spotted upstairs at the height of the fire.

Omagh independent councillor Paddy McGowan, a former fireman, said: “I’ve never seen anything like it. It must have been a ferocious fire.

“People living in houses next door had to get out. They seemed to get away quite quickly.

“Neighbours were hammering on their windows and doors. They could hear screaming from the house which was on fire. There is nothing left but bare, black walls. Absolutely nothing.

“Nobody can believe this has happened. The family has been living there for about four years.

“I’ve been a fireman for 25 years, and this must be one of the worst losses of life in a single incident that I can remember.”

Crews from Newtownstewart, Dromore, Fintona and Irvinestown, Co Fermanagh, were also called out to deal with the blaze at the end of terrace house.

By the time the first officers arrived, the property was well alight, with flames shooting up through the roof.

At one stage, a number of neighbours pushed a ladder up against the front window, but the fire was so intense that they had to withdraw.

It is understood there was an open fire in the house.

Retired barber Leo Doran, 66, who lives three doors away, said he was stunned at how quickly the blaze caught hold.

He, his wife Liz, and son Paul, 22, were woken by their next-door neighbours.

He said: “The flames were coming from everywhere – back, front, through the roof. Nothing could be done.

“Some young lads managed to get a ladder up at the front window. They could see the people inside, but there was nothing they could do.

“We’ve no idea where or how the fire started. It was a terrible sight. The walls inside these houses are so thin – stud walls – and the house was an inferno in a matter of minutes. The flames were just belching out.”

The father of the children worked as a farmer.

Mr Doran said: “They were neighbours who kept to themselves. He was a typical country man. You could see the kids running around on the street.

“Everybody is just so shocked. We can’t take it in. It’s just such a tragedy.”

The nearby St Conor's Primary School, which is within sight of the ruins, was closed.

Some of the children who died in the fire were among the pupils.

The eldest of the children feared dead is a girl, aged 13, a student at the town’s Sacred Heart College.

Dr Josephine Deehan, an SDLP member of Omagh District Council, said it would take some time before the true magnitude of what happened came home to people.

She spoke to some of the neighbours and parents.

She said: “The mood in Omagh is very sombre. The skies are grey and people are standing around here (at the scene) talking in low voices. Some are crying.

“It’s a tragedy of unparalleled proportions, a family wiped out in the most traumatic of circumstances, and I mean traumatic.”