Posted online: Feb 21st, 2007

The sound of somebody banging on her front door, the voice of a desperate woman and the sound of a fire alarm shook a resident of Lawne Park, Ballyshannon out of her bed. As she opened her door and saw the state of shock of her next door neighbour, she knew something awful had just happened.

Eileen Gormley was awoken in the early hours of Monday morning by Snuffles, her faithful dog, licking her face. She smelt smoke and heard the fire alarm. The smoke came from the kitchen. When she opened the door, her stove was on fire. Frantic, she desperately tried to calm the blaze but the flames reached enormous proportions and all she could do was get out of the house as soon as she could.

She rushed to her next door neighbour, Susan Sullivan, who called the emergency services.

The neighbours were quickly awoken to the sound of two fire brigades charging up the estate. A fire brigade spokesman confirmed that they received the call at 5.18am, with the Ballyshannon tender in attendance within a matter of minutes. Colleagues in Bundoran joined them at 5.37am. The crews were back in their stations within the hour.