Woman killed in Togher house fire named locally

The back of the house (centre) which also effected the adjoining homes in which Eilieen O'Leary lost her life in a fire at Palmbury Orchard, Togher Cork Picture; Eddie O'Hare

A woman who died in a house fire in a southside suburb of Cork city early on Thursday morning has been named locally as Eileen O’Leary (67) of Palmbury Orchard, Togher.

The alarm was raised just after 6am, and members of Cork City Fire Brigade fought the blaze at Ms O’Leary’s home and the two adjoining houses for more than four hours, before discovering her body in an upstairs bedroom.

She was pronounced dead at the scene. Nobody else was reported injured.

The houses on either side were badly damaged.

A garda spokesperson said a technical examination of the scene has been completed.

“The body of the woman has been taken to the local mortuary for post-mortem examination, the results of which are not being released for operational reasons,” they said.

Tadgh O’Mahony, third officer with Cork City Fire Brigade, said the alarm had been raised by a neighbour who had been awoken by her smoke detector, and several units of the fire service responded, with 19 firefighters arriving at the scene at 6.15am.

“The seat of the fire was in one house, but it had spread to the houses immediately to the left and right when we arrived at the scene,” Mr O'Mahony said.

“We brought the fire under control and, unfortunately, we discovered a female occupant in her late 50s to early 70s was in the bedroom and we confirmed that she was deceased.

“On behalf of Cork City Fire Brigade, I would like to extend our heartfelt condolences to the woman’s loved ones,” he said.