Family whose Laois home destroyed had been 11 years on Council waiting list

A family who lost their home in a fire in Portlaoise had only moved in last year having spent 11 years on the housing list. 

Erin and John Thomas and their two boys, 13 year-old Blake and 8 year-old Jacob lost all of their possessions in the blaze at Maryborough, Portlaoise on the evening of Friday, July 4 last. 

Their home and a neighbouring property were destroyed and damage was caused to a third house. 

Erin’s sister Niamh, who has set up a GoFundMe page to help the family, said the family are now all staying in a one bedroom hotel in Portlaoise. 

Niamh said the house was gutted and all of the family’s possessions were destroyed. The family, who had fully furnished the house in recent months, didn’t have contents insurance. 

Niamh said “at the moment they are in temporary accommodation so they are just in a single room in a hotel.” 

She doesn’t know how long the family will have to spend in the emergency accommodation and the boys are due to return to school in Portlaoise in September.   

“They have a roof over their head but they have nothing,” Niamh explained. 

She said the family weren’t even in the house a year having waited on a council housing list for 11 years. Her sister Erin wanted to put her own stamp on the property. “They bought all furniture, new beds, she wanted to make it her own. Unfortunately everything is gone,” Niamh explained. 

Niamh said her family is trying to keep the boys busy and arranging to take them places to get them out of the hotel room. She doesn’t know how long the family will remain in the hotel but said they would be homeless without the room. 

She set up the fundraiser in order to try and make the family comfortable following the loss of all their possessions which included family albums and children's toys and games. 

Laois Fire and Rescue Service were alerted to the fire on Friday, July 4 at 7.10pm. In all, 18 firefighters from Portlaoise and Mountrath attended the scene using two fire brigades, a water tanker and a hydraulic platform. The blaze was brought under control and fire crews finished up at the scene at around midnight. 

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“Two houses in the block of four houses were fully involved in the fire and suffered extensive fire and smoke damage. On arrival, the fire crews from Portlaoise and Mountrath quickly contained the spread of the fire and ultimately prevented the fire spread to the adjacent dwellings,” Chief Fire Officer Declan Power said.