A second fire in Co Kildare has claimed the life of a man in his 50s. The fire was discovered when a relative of the dead man called to his bungalow at Ballysax, The Curragh, at about 9.40am yesterday.
The alarm was raised and three units of the fire brigade attended the scene. The man was found just inside the hall door of the property.
He was declared dead at the scene and taken to the mortuary at Naas General Hospital where a postmortem is expected to be carried out today.
The house is less than three miles from where a young couple were killed in a fire at their home at the Curragh Army camp on New Year's Day.
A spokesman for the fire service in Newbridge said they received four calls about the fire, and units were at the house within 10 minutes.
"The house was extensively damaged. It was well alight on arrival, and three units, two from Newbridge and one from the Curragh, fought the blaze."
The house was sealed off yesterday for examination by Newbridge scene-of-crime officers. The cause of the fire has not yet been established but gardaí do not believe it is suspicious.
Meanwhile the bodies of the young couple who died in the house fire in the Army camp on New Year's Day were released to their families last night.
Darren Hanly (23) and Amanda Murphy (21) died when their home at McMurrough Hill in the Curragh camp was engulfed in flame shortly after 3am on Monday.
They had returned from a New Year's Eve party with friends not long before the fire broke out in a a downstairs kitchen.
The couple were the parents of two boys, aged three years and eight weeks, who were staying with their grandparents on the night of the fire.
The results of postmortems carried out yesterday at Naas General Hospital have not yet been released. However, it is understood that preliminary results showed the couple died of smoke inhalation. Toxicology reports on blood tests carried out have not yet been completed.
Gardaí have said they are satisfied that the fire started in the kitchen of the house. A number of kitchen appliances have been sent to the Garda technical bureau for analysis.
Following analysis of the appliances, and the final results of the postmortems, a report will be sent to the county coroner.
The bodies of Mr Hanly and Ms Murphy will be removed from Leahy's funeral home in Newbridge to St Brigid's church in the Curragh camp this evening at 7pm. Funeral Mass will be said for the couple tomorrow at 11am, and they will be buried at St Conleth's Cemetery, Newbridge.
