Man suddenly appeared before his family covered in flames, inquest hears

A man who suddenly appeared before his family covered in flames is believed to have accidentally set himself alight with a match, an inquest has heard.

Jim Delaney (85) suffered fatal complications from burn injuries to his body sustained during the incident at his home on St Joseph’s Road, Carlow on August 30th, 2021. The father of four was transported by air ambulance to St James’s Hospital in Dublin but died there two days later.

The deceased’s son, Paul Delaney, told Dublin District Coroner’s Court on Thursday that he was visiting his parents’ home and sitting in the kitchen with his mother, Irene, and sister, Mary, discussing a new stove for the house when his father appeared in the hallway “on fire from his chest up”.

He recalled removing his father’s jumper and shirt and trying to ease the burns with cold water and towels until the emergency services arrived.

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Coroner Aisling Gannon said there was no witness to the actual incident which caused the fire. The inquest heard there were no fires or candles lighting in the house at the time.

Lighting matches

However, Irene Delaney said in a statement that Mr Delaney used to smoke a pipe and still had the habit of still lighting and putting out matches even after he stopped smoking. She said he had been in good form earlier that day when they were chatting in their sitting room.

Mary Delaney, who was a carer for her parents, said they attempted to put out the fire and ease her father’s wounds with a shower hose. She said her father had started to show signs of dementia and had become absent-minded in the months before his death.

A consultant in plastic surgery at St James’s Hospital, Claragh Healy, said Mr Delaney suffered 25 per cent full thickness burns to his trunk, face, neck and upper limbs and a decision was taken in consultation with his family to provide palliative care. A postmortem confirmed he died as a result of multiple organ failure resulting from the burns.

Ms Gannon returned a verdict of accidental death.