This article is from page 9 of the 2007-03-06 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 9 JPG
A NORTH Clare man died as a re- sult of smoke inhalation, after he fell asleep near a gas cooker at his home, an inquest has heard.
John Flanagan (39) died as a result of a fire at the family home, at Lis- doony East, two miles from Kilfeno- ra, on April 9 last year.
Mr Flanagan, a labourer, died at the farmhouse, which was more than 100 years old.
The fire was noticed by a neighbour who was tending to cattle, but it was not possible to get into the house and save the man.
Frances Flanagan recalled being at the family home that afternoon. Her parents, Micheal and Tess, had gone to Dublin that day, for an Easter break. She said her brother John took food out of the freezer and said he would cook it later. She and Michael later went to Kilshanny to get ciga- rettes. They had a drink there and
later, as they travelled home, the house was completely ablaze.
Her brother Michael recalled that as they were leaving Kilshanny, they received a phone call, indicating that their house was on fire. He didn’t be- lieve it at first.
He said his brother John had in- tended to cook a fry and there was a second-hand gas cooker in the house, which the family had acquired a short time earlier.
Martin Neylon met John earlier that day and said they were to move cattle the following day.
‘John’s last words to me were “See
you in the morning’,” he said.
Later, he saw smoke coming from the house. He could see the slates on the roof cracking from the heat. At that stage, the house was completely in flames and there was “no way” anyone could go near it.
Detective Garda Niall Kampff car- ried out a technical examination of the scene. He said the heat intensity was such that it caused the plaster to fall from the walls.
He said it seemed likely that flames from the gas cooker spread to the curtains and then to the wooden ceil- ing, before spreading throughout the house. “It has been suggested to me he may have fallen asleep. I suggest that he did.”
Dr Elizabeth Mulcahy, who carried out a post-mortem examination on the deceased’s body, said death was likely to have been from smoke inha- lation. Coroner Isobel O’ Dea (above) said she was satisfied that the cause of death was accidental.