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THE HSE HAS confirmed that the death of a patient in an ambulance which caught fire at Naas General Hospital was a direct consequence of the fire.
Two National Ambulance Service paramedics were also injured in the incident, with one understood to have sustained burn injuries.
Speaking to reporters in Naas this evening, HSE director general Tony O’Brien said early indications point to “an oxygen related incident”.
He described the incident as an “unbelievable tragedy” and said that he has spoken to the family of the patient.
The ambulance was less than one year old, said O’Brien on RTÉ Six One this evening. He said that most of the ambulance was destroyed in the blaze.
TheJournal.ie understands that the ambulance caught fire while bringing a patient to the the Emergency Department. The patient, a man in his 70s, died shortly afterwards and O’Brien said his death was a direct consequence of the fire.
Images from the scene show the front of the ambulance is heavily damaged.
Two medics who had brought the elderly man to hospital were injured in the fire. One has now been released and the second was taken to St James’ Hospital in Dublin but is said to be doing well.
Naas General Hospital earlier ordered an evacuation after the incident, which happened at 2pm today while the patient was being brought by ambulance to the Emergency Department (ED).
The hospital’s emergency plan has been put into action, and all staff and patients have been evacuated from the ED and the nearby outpatients clinic.
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Gardaí in Naas said they and the HSE are investigating all the circumstances surrounding today’s fire.
In a statement, they said:
A male patient was in the ambulance at the time of the fire and was pronounced dead at the scene. The area has been sealed off for a technical examination.
Explosions
The HSE confirmed that the Emergency Department has temporarily closed.
The National Ambulance Service (NAS) has implemented diversion protocols and patients are being taken to alternative hospitals.
The NAS has also informed both the Health and Safety Authority (HSA) and An Garda Siochána, and a full investigation is underway into the incident.
The hospital has advised any member of the public seeking access to medical care to visit their GP in the first instance and if necessary to access another Emergency Department in an alternative hospital.
The hospital has also requested that members of the public refrain from visiting at this time.
‘It combusted and exploded’
Witnesses reported loud bangs and explosions, and flames licking the building. Images taken show black smoke billowing from the hospitals lands.
The HSE referred all queries about the incident to The Hospital Group, who said they would be making a statement soon.
It’s understood four fire brigades attended the scene, as well as several Garda vehicles.
Dozens of other patients have been evacuated due to the blaze, someone familiar with the hospital investigation told TheJournal.ie.
“It combusted and exploded,” the person said.
“The fire was outside the A&E entrance, they were bringing the patient into Casualty.”
Another witness said: ”The ambulance went up very fast. There were lots of bangs and explosions. I hope there wasn’t anyone hurt.”
Local councillor Fintan Brett told TheJournal.ie the whole area is “in shock”.
“Imagine that poor man going into hospital, thinking he was going to get better, and then he passes away. It’s absolutely terrible. My thoughts go out to him and his family.”
With reporting from Michelle Hennessy and Garreth MacNamee.
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I love you tracker mortgage. Mwah.
Tracker will be great until German economy goes in to overdrive in 3 or 4 years. Your mortgage won’t be so good when rate is 5%
Tracker will still be great no matter what when compared to the other option of variable rate.
Ah but the less paid in interest now, the less that gets compounded onto the principal meaning less interest charged when the rates do rise again. Variables need to come back down a bit too though, its ridiculous how variable rate holders get punished for tracker reductions.
I love you no negative equity mwah!
Aww…look at the little variable mortgage holders trying to look positively at things. So cute!
Amy there’s no two ways about it, banks earn their money on mortgages so while they’re cutting the rates on the trackers they need to increase them elsewhere to cover this, unfortunately this falls on everyone who doesn’t have a tracker. There is no saving those on variable rate mortgages either currently or those planning on taking them out in the near future, they’re entirely at the whims of our self serving banking sector.
I remember when back in 2007 (yes, yes) the bank’s mortgage manager asked me if we wanted a tracker or a variable rate. Sounded like a no-brainer. And it was! :)
Of course I still paid twice the price for my house, but hey.
I’d eat a mile of my bank managers shite if he’d give me a minus rate on my mortgage
Great in a tracker, I can pay my water bills now!
McGoo you just put an awful awful image in my head :(
Mcgoo , that comment made me cracking up laughing..
And now we wait for AIB to pass this on to the mortgage holders, hurray!
….. or not.
The ECB rate cuts are to fight against deflation.
These efforts are nullified if the public at large are buffered from said cuts.
AIB et al are working against the ECB’s efforts here, well done lads.
The
They will pass it on to all tracker holders.
This tinkering at the margins will have absolutely no affect on any of the eurozone economies. The only way out of a deflationary spiral is consumer spending and that requires cash. Broad money supply has to be increased. The British and Americans did it by making their respective central banks buy their own bonds, quantitive easing. The ECB could do the same tomorrow if the Bundesbank were to agree. Think of the affect on the Irish economy if the ECB took on €100 billion of our sovereign debt. We could end austerity with an expansionery budget that would get us up and running. The same goes for the other stagnating or falling Eurozone economies. Germany would worry though. Having work hard to improve competitiveness to drive export led growth, they could see it go south if inflation got out of control.
If you are lucky enough to have a tracker rate on your mortgage, your bank has to pass on any rate cuts or increases that the ECB set. They have no choice. Variable rate mortgage holders are not as lucky (including me)
That explains why permanent tsb sent me a nice letter to say my mortgage repayments were increasing !
It would be more honest if they just said, we’re charging ya more because someone has to cover all those lucky people who have tracker mortgages!
The situation existing that you could have a row of houses with one half paying for the other half’s mortgage interest has to be sorted by government!
Bloody spongers!
They need to Dis-incentivise residential property speculation by individuals and companies. It’s a basic human need to have 1 home. 2nd and 3rd homes should be taxed out of existence.
I had considered the same but then what of the rental sector which is still required? My opinion is that increases in property prices should be taxed at incredibly (like absolutely penal) high rates on anything other than a principal private residence. It will take the speculators out of the market in one clean swoop. This might mitigate the bubble we’re seeing up now by taking investors out of the market but some correction would eventually be needed to balance out and boost properties in the rental sector.
I assume you aren’t claiming it a human right to own a home? And who are you to say I can’t own a second or third home? If you can afford them, it’s your business and yours alone
Indeed it is Paidraig but it’s everyone’s business how much tax you pay on the profits earned on it which was all I said!
@ted sorry comment was aimed at mindfulirish not you :)
Quantitative easing is the only answer
Yes it always works out. Sing: I am forever blowing bubbles. Woo hoo how big do yis reckon this one will get.
When is the Government going to rush through legislation to legally require the banks to pass on all the ECB interest rate cuts to standard variable rate mortgage customers. Let’s see rushed legislation to protect these customers just as was done to protect the banks.
The ECB forecasts Eurozone gdp growth of 1% this year.
America is looking at just under 4% this year.
The Euro is wonderful, apart from killing growth continent wide.
The rest of the world is leaving the EU standing.
They sure don’t like savers, anyway who has money to save now anyways and if u do u can always invest your money in the housing market or the stock market, keep the ponzi scheme going a little longer. ECB also trying to force the Germans into accepting QE which as the German people and American people know is serious bad news.
It was deflation that brought Hitler to power, not inflation.
All well and good…but will he irish banks pass it on to mortgage customers…not likley!
Get your hands on something that stores value because in the coming years fiat currencies ain’t gona be worth the paper they’re printed on.
The EU is panicking, the actions taken today by the ECB are evidence of this if you hadn’t figured it out already by simply watching stocks AND bonds rising rapidly together all year.
What’s a fiat currency Niall?
that’s kind of the goldbug position but in reality not every currency can devalue against every other one. warts and all the $ looks a lot better than the Euro. In a deflation the main thing is not to have debts (oh could someone pass that info onto Baldie and the gang in FG)
Your right dee, the dollar ‘looks’ good. The Lehman brothers finances also ‘looked’ good in 2006.
@ Niall , you have to remember the $ is the most over borrowed currency in the world , that means when the next crash happens everybody becomes short of dollars in an effort to square their positions and much to the bemusement of the Fed the dollar will go up despite what the Fed does to reduce its value. It will be quite a while before ‘muricans are going around with wheelbarrows full of money to buy lunch.
AIB – if you up my variable mortgage rate again to counter this latest drop in ECB rate then I’m switching my current account to permanent TSB !!
During the boom days I gave serious consideration to fixing my mortgage, that was spring 2008. My bank manager told me to hang on until the end of the year so I didn’t bother switching from my tracker. Thank god for laziness.
need more programmes with cool sounding names made up of 3 or 4 initials, that always works…chuckle chuckle
will bank charges and overdraft rates sink
This is welcome but it is still a roll of the dice.
The Banks might not increase lending to SME’s etc they might park it in Gold or German or US bonds or anything else they consider safe.
In most of Europe there is no demand and no growth, as bad as we are, we still actually have growth, that is the reality of the Euro zone.
Anyone on a tracker is just having their negative equity off set by low interest rates,all trackers were give out in boom years to people who overpaid anyway
have your say