By Colm Kelpie
The Irish News
BRAY, Ireland — An experienced firefighter killed on duty with his young colleague warned superiors weeks before they died of dangerous practices in the fire service where they were employed.
Brian Murray (46) died alongside Mark O’Shaughnessy (26) in September 2007 after they became trapped inside a disused smoke-filled factory in Bray, Co Wicklow.
The men’s families claim there was a delay in responding to the fire as the blaze was out of control by the time fire crews arrived.
They believe this was a major factor in the two men’s deaths. Mr Murray wrote to the county’s assistant chief fire officer Joanne O’Connor three weeks before he died after office workers were asked to check a fire themselves before firefighters were called out.
“It has come to our attention that there have been numerous callouts that we have not been alerted for, this practice as always is totally unacceptable,” he wrote. Mr Murray said the first call was in August 2007 after a bush fire on Bray head and the second followed an emergency call from staff at Trinity Biotech offices. The letter, dated September 4, 2007 was written by Mr Murray on behalf of the town’s firefighters. Mr Murray, a 10-year veteran of Bray’s retained fire service, died on September 26 2007.
An inquest into the mens’ deaths opened yesterday at Dublin County Coroner’s Court and adjourned until next March as a garda inquiry into the deaths continues.
Darren Murphy, spokesman for the families, said they believed there was a 20 minute delay in responding to the factory blaze - and they claim it was a major factor in the mens’ deaths.