A fire broke out in a semi-detached cottage in Castlepollard, Co Westmeath, resulting in the death of an 89-year-old man despite emergency efforts. Smoke detectors in a neighboring house alerted firefighters shortly after 1am, prompting a swift response. Upon arrival, they found the man unresponsive, and he was later pronounced dead at the scene. Investigation revealed the fire likely started in the kitchen. Community members expressed shock and sorrow over the loss of a well-known local resident, emphasizing the importance of working smoke alarms.
"We got the call at around 1:15am and when we got there he was unresponsive and unfortunately it was too late for him."
"A neighbour's smoke alarm went off and only for that the two houses would have gone up. It just shows the importance of having working smoke detectors in houses as only for the (man's) neighbour's alarm going off, it could have been a lot worse."
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