Source: CatholicIreland.net
January 9th, 2010
A parish priest in a County Kerry Parish has praised an alert parishioner after he saved his local parish church, which is one of Irelands most popular wedding venues, from been destroyed by fire.
Just over a week after St Mel’s cathedral in Longford was gutted by fire, the Killarney parish of Fossa is lucky that a fire at the picturesque Prince of Peace Church on Sunday night last was brought under control before it could cause serious damage.
It is believed that the blaze was sparked in one of two stained glass panels that are artificially lit and located at the rear of the 30-year-old church.
Speaking to the Kingdom newspaper, Parish Priest Fr Brendan Harrington praised the quick action of one parishioner who he said, came across the fire. He spoke of a palpable sense of relief in the parish that more damage was not done to the precious church.
The alarm was raised just after 5:30pm on Sunday January 3 when a parishioner called into the church and, according to Fr Harrington, it was his quick thinking that saved the building from serious damage.
According to Fr Brendan, “He is a newly arrived parishioner, only been living here for the last six months. He dropped into the church and saw the fire. He had the presence of mind to know what to do immediately. He rang for the fire brigade straight away and then came across to me to let me know what was happening. We were lucky it was found so quickly.”
According to local Gardaí, a number of units of the Killarney fire service rushed to the scene and quickly brought it under control but not before some damage was done to the ultra modern church.
”A number of parishioners who help out regularly in the church also came along to try and help," Fr Harrington said on Monday morning. "Thankfully, everything is well under control now. There was some smoke damage and, as you can imagine when fire extinguishers are used, a lot of dust comes out so all that will have to be cleaned," he added. ‘But thankfully we didn’t lose the church.”
Dedicated to the Prince of Peace and the ideal of reconciliation, the church was built in 1977 by the people of Fossa, County Kerry, under the leadership of their priest Father James Galvin.
by Sean Ryan
