A devastating house fire that tragically took the lives of business couple Tom Mahon, aged 63, and Eileen Mahon, aged 61, from Swinford, Co Mayo was brought to attention by a vehemently barking pet dog, as revealed at an inquest held on a recent Monday.
The fire, described as ‘catastrophic’, swiftly immersed the Mahons’ two-storey residence located in Deerpark, during the early hours of the 26th of March. Brian Cosgrove and Patricia Timoney, a married couple who both serve in An Garda Síochána and lived nearby, were awakened by their dog, Millie, who had started fiercely barking just past 2am.
Both Cosgrove and Timoney shared their accounts at the inquests led by the district of Mayo’s coroner, Pat O’Connor, in the courthouse of Swinford. Garda Timoney recollected in a testimony that her spouse investigated the cause of their pet’s disturbance.
Not long after, Cosgrove started raising the alarm about a fire, she commented. “Upon hearing the alert, I bolted out of bed, dialled 999 and rushed to the house next door. The flames were already bursting through the roof of the Mahons’ residence,” she detailed further.
Out of fear that their residence may also catch fire, Timoney expressed, “We promptly awakened our kids, evacuated everyone including our pet, loaded them into the car and retreated from the scene.”
Firefighters from Swinford, Charlestown and Kiltimagh confronted the blaze which caused severe damage to the house, characterised by Det Garda Brian Barry from the Garda Technical Bureau as “a substantial, separate two-storey house, with a conservatory on the left-hand side”. The roof succumbed under the intensity of the flames, tumbling onto the lower floor.
Amidst the substantial wreckage, the bodies of both fire victims were later found, Det Garda Barry further elucidated that the fire seemed to have originated from an upstairs bedroom, from where it spread downwards into the front living room.
The detective from Garda Barry expressed that identifying the source of ignition proved difficult due to the sheer amount of damage caused by the fire. During Monday’s inquest, Sergent Conor Drury, who operates out of Swinford, along with other Garda witnesses, provided their testimonies. Just upon his arrival, Sgt Drury claimed, the fire had already progressed considerably, and the heat was extraordinarily intense.
The information provided to the coroner revealed no indication of third-party involvement in the ignition of the fire. As declared by the respective medics, the cause of death in both instances was accredited to heavy burns resulting from a house fire.
In the aftermath of declaring the death of both fire victims accidental, the coroner termed the incident as an outrightly tragic event for the family. In his words, there was no appropriate way to describe the grave tragedy that befell a couple who had just begun enjoying their grandparenting phase.
Losing two family members simultaneously, is indeed, a tragedy of the worst kind, he added. Brendan Donnelly, who serves as the lawyer for the Mahon family, expressed sincere gratitude towards the Gardaí, fire service, and first responders present at the scene. He declared that the Mahons would forever remember the community support they received during this difficult time.
Expressing solidarity, Sgt Noel Crinnegan, court representative for An Garda Síochána, joined in expressing condolences.