The community of Carlingford are rallying around local grandparents Carmel and Aidan Long whose house was destroyed in a fire on Friday afternoon. Thankfully neither Carmel or Aidan were injured during the blaze which was caused by a tumble dryer but their house has been destroyed. Carmel and Aidan had been out of work and had unfortunately allowed their insurance cover to lapse so there is no insurance cover on their home.
Now Carmel and Aidan’s five children, Cormac, Aileen, Lorna, Joanne and Becky have set up a GoFundMe Page to try and raise enough money to help the pair rebuild their home. Having only been set up over the weekend the page has already raised over €12,000. A fundraising target of €80,000 has been set and the local community in Carlingford are rallying around the pair to try and help them out.
An appeal launched by the family on GoFundMe stated that the family were heartbroken and devastated following the blaze.
“To say we are heartbroken is an understatement and we are devastated and in complete shock however, we are forever grateful that nobody was injured in the fire.
Carmel and Aidan had been out of work and had unfortunately allowed their Insurance cover to lapse so there is no insurance cover on the home. Our parents are very proud people but we feel the only way to get them back into their home is to set up a fundraising campaign for them.
We hope that you can help Carmel and Aidan in slowly starting to rebuild their lives and their home. We would really appreciate anything you can donate to help them get back into their home.
Thank you for taking the time to read this and hopefully we can help them get back into their home after this devastating loss,” concluded the message.
According to Carmel and Aidan’s daughter Lorna, the fire was started by a tumble dryer which wasn’t in use at the time.
Lorna sent a warning out to people that they should be very careful when it comes to electrical appliances.
“We would like to stress to people that this was an electrical fault. That if anyone has a tumble dryer that is plugged in under a counter, regardless if it’s in use or not, to check the plugs regularly. The dryer was not in use nor was any electrical appliance at the time.
“This could have happened at anytime and we are so lucky it was during the day and not when my mum and dad were in bed,” stated Lorna.
If you are in a position to help you can give money at GoFundMe by searching for Help Carmel & Aidan Long after fire destroyed their home on the GoFundMe site.
