Father and daughter rescued in Donegal house fire

A father and daughter were rescued from a house fire at Woodthorpe in Newtowncunningham in the early hours of this morning.

Donegal Chief Fire Officer, Joseph McTaggart, said the fire was reported shortly before 1am today, Monday, and was attended by four units from Derry and Letterkenny, with the first unit on the scene at about eight minutes past 1am.

Mr. McTaggart said neighbours had rescued the young girl from a first-floor window prior to the arrival of the brigade. He said the man was sitting on the windowsill when the brigade arrived, but while the fire brigade was attempting to rescue the man, and before they had made any physical contact with him, he fell back into the building.

Firefighting search and rescue teams wearing breathing apparatus removed the man from the house, and he was given first aid assistance by fire brigade personnel before the ambulance arrived. 

Mr. McTaggart said when brigades arrived on the scene the fire was well developed and the house was smoke-logged. He said the fire was in the kitchen of the house and the kitchen suffered substantial fire damage with considerable smoke damage in the rest of the house.

“It was very, very fortunate that both people were gotten out of the building and we have to be thankful for that,” Mr. McTaggart said.

The father and daughter were taken by ambulance to hospital.