The fire which claimed the lives of two young children in south Belfast yesterday was a tragedy of immense proportions. A cause has yet to be established for the outbreak, but it appears to have started accidently in the terraced house. The bodies of the two victims, a girl aged two and a boy aged three, were recovered from the building, while two women and another child were treated in hospital for their injuries.
Huge credit is due to the neighbours who tried to force their way into the blazing home.
Fire officers, who arrived at the scene less than three minutes after receiving the first emergency call, also did everything humanly possible to save the youngsters. The two deaths can only focus renewed attention on the issue of domestic smoke alarms. Reports said that the house where yesterday's blaze took place was not fitted with one of the devices. After an extensive publicity campaign over recent years, official statistics say that 92 per cent of homes across Northern Ireland are equipped with smoke alarms. Although this is a high overall proportion, it still suggests that more than 100,000 people are going to sleep each night without the protection of what can only be regarded as an essential piece of safety equipment.