Cloughmills tragedy avoided

A woman in her eighties has been rescued from a serious fire in her property in Cloughmills. A number off firefighters tackled the blaze which has destroyed her family Bungalow. PICTURE STEVEN MCAULEY/MCAULEY MULTIMEDIA

It is believed the retired school teacher named locally as 88-years-old Alice O’Mullan, managed to vacate the building on the Culcrum Road which was totally gutted in the blaze.

The Northern Ireland Fire and Rescue Service confirmed: “We receieved a call at 7.09am today (Monday) that there was a fire in a detached bungalow on Culcrum Road, Cloughmills.

“A lady was discovered outside the building on the arrival of the Fire Service. The lady, in her 80s, suffered smoke inhalation and was taken to hospital.

A woman in her eighties has been rescued from a serious fire in her property in Cloughmills

“Three fire appliances from Ballymena were deployed and four fire fighters with breathing apparatus and a thermal image camera extinguished the blaze. They left the scene at around 9.15am.”

The NIFRS indicated that the fire was ‘accidental’.

One neighbour said everyone was relieved that the woman escaped in time.

“We are all still coming to terms with the loss of wee Adam Gilmour and a second tragedy less than a week later would have been unbearable,” she said.