Omagh house fire may have been deliberate

A blaze which is feared to have killed seven members of a family in the North's worst house fire tragedy may have been started deliberately, it emerged tonight.

Police have confirmed two adults and three children died in the flames at the house in Omagh, Co Tyrone. Investigations into other missing members of the family were continuing, with detectives probing the cause not ruling out a crime.

Even though they have yet to find firm evidence the fire was malicious, they are examining the possibility it may have been triggered by some form of accelerant at the front door of the house. One neighbour said tonight: “It went up like a bonfire.”

Deputy chief fire officer Louis Jones said five bodies had been recovered in first floor bedrooms and another two were still missing.

“Searches are continuing, however, they are being scaled down until the morning on the advice of the police.”

He blamed the damage to the house for the decision but failed to be drawn on how the blaze began.

The victims are expected to be removed tomorrow.

“This is certainly, in my 30 years in the fire service, one of the most tragic incidents that I have attended.”

He added that the heat had been intense throughout the whole building.

“The whole house was engulfed in flames,” he added.

The house where Arthur McElhill, a farm manager, his partner and their five children – the youngest a baby boy just 10-months-old – lived was engulfed in flames within minutes.

Neighbours heard screams coming from upstairs rooms and at one stage a ladder was pushed against the front of the house in a desperate attempt to get them out. But the intensity of the heat and speed of the blaze defeated rescue attempts.

The burning roof of the end of terrace house collapsed as fierce flames, sparks and heavy smoke billowed out from the front and back. It was the ferocity of the blaze which shocked firefighters who had virtually no chance of rescuing anybody and left forensic experts checking the debris for clues as to the cause.

Another possibility under investigation is that it may have started accidentally in an upstairs room of the house at Lammy Crescent. Crews from Omagh and neighbouring towns and villages who arrived at the scene said they had never seen anything like the carnage and devastation.

Detective Chief Superintendent Norman Baxter, who heads the PSNI’s serious crime squad, confirmed his officers were trying to establish “if there were any untoward circumstances”.

He refused to comment on rumours there had been a commotion involving Mr McElhill and his partner before the fire started early today, or that police had been called to the house previously.

He said: “There is nothing at this stage to indicate there was a definite crime. We’re having a thorough investigation to ensure everything is explained about the origins of the fire, how it started and how this family died in the fire.”

Other sources close to the investigation confirmed arson as one line of inquiry, but one stressed: “It’s there as an option, and I would stress it’s an option – just.

“There are some other considerations to be taken into account, which means police have to tread very carefully before coming to any firm conclusions. It could be suspicious, and I would say at this stage, suspicious with a small ’s’. But then again it may be a terrible tragedy caused by an accident. We just don’t know.”

As part of their inquiries detectives will be checking to find out if there were any difficulties within the family or tensions with people in the area. The family moved into the house several years ago. Mr McElhill comes from the Ederney area of Co Fermanagh, not far from Omagh, and his partner Lorraine from Co Cavan.

The eldest of their five children, Caroline, 13, attended the nearby Sacred Heart College. The other four were Sean, Clodagh, Bellina and baby James.

Some were pupils at St Conor’s Primary School, just yards from the house, which was closed for the day. Stunned parents and friends of family who gathered at the school gates wept in disbelief.

Neighbours told tonight how they were forced to give up any chance of trying to save the family.

Steven Mullen, 21, a tiler who lives two doors away, said he was woken by the sound of screaming: “I heard a roaring and he (Mr McElhill) was shouting: ’Help’. He was trying to break the window. Then the window exploded and the flames came out. He had the window half-broken when the flames exploded around him.

“We could get nowhere near the house. It was just too hot. It just went up like a bonfire. His wife was by him. The fire was in around them.”