Richard Sinnott pictured outside his home in Blackmoor Lane, Cleariestown which was destroyed in a fire. Pic: Jim Campbell

TWO BROTHERS have been left effectively homeless after a fire broke out in their home, destroying the building.

Richard and Willie Sinnott were at home in their thatched farmhouse on Blackmoor Lane, Cleariestown on Wednesday last when the fire broke out shortly before 6 p.m. The brothers, who are in their 60s and 70s respectively, quickly vacated the house and called the fire brigade.

Richard Sinnott explained: “As soon as it started we got out of the house. We rang the fire brigade but we could see the fire spreading and the fire brigade, unfortunately, couldn’t contain it.”

The house, he said, was 325 years old and was his family home where he and 12 other siblings were born and reared. His brother Willie had been living in the house for many years and in recent times, he had returned home from working abroad to the old family home.

On Thursday, the brothers were sorting through the ruin to see if anything could be salvaged. A rekindle occurred and the fire brigade were called back to the scene in the afternoon to make the area safe once again.

Mr. Sinnott said: “We are technically homeless but we have family and friends who are helping us out.”

It was, he said, very sad to see the house, which had only been freshly thatched in recent years, destroyed, remarking that the brothers had many happy memories of their childhood in the house.

A spokesperson for Wexford Fire Services said that two units of Wexford Fire Brigade had arrived on scene at 6:20 p.m. They were backed up by the water tanker from Wexford also.

It is believed that the fire originated in the chimney area, spreading to the thatched roof which would have ignited very quickly. They described the incident as a “significant domestic fire” saying that on the fire brigade’s arrival, the ceiling was already well ablaze.

The fire brigade remained on scene until 4:20 a.m. Thursday morning, working to extinguish the blaze. They were subsequently called out to a rekindle the following day at around 4 p.m.

Two units returned to the scene to deal with the rekindle and further dampening of the area.

The spokesperson remarked: “It would be very rare that we would be called back to a scene but because of the thatch and older contents of the house, a rekindle occurred.”