Lightning may have been to blame for Michael Healy-Rae fire, locals say

TD brought to hospital from Kilgarvin for smoke inhalation treatment after small blaze at premises

Lightning may have be responsible for the fire which struck the Kilgarvan commercial complex and office belonging to the Kerry TD Michael Healy-Rae.

The Independent TD was due to be released this lunchtime from hospital in Tralee where he had been taken and treated for smoke inhalation after putting out the fire in his shop.

Gardaí said the fire was accidental and was not suspicious.

The TD’s Kilgarvan village complex houses his post office and the regional postal sorting office for Kenmare and the surrounding area, as well as his political office and shop, petrol pump station and cafe. His farm is nearby.

Michael Healy Rae and his brother Danny Healy-Rae, also an Independent TD who owns a pub in the village, had used fire extinguishers to tackle the minor fire believed to have started in the fuse board area at the back of the Mace shop and post office.

The buildings have not suffered serious damage. One unit of the fire service attended.

Mr Healy-Rae suffered smoke inhalation, however. Emergency services including an ambulance were dispatched to the scene.

His brother Danny Healy-Rae told Radio Kerry he was “fine” and had been taken to hospital as a precautionary measure for an X-ray.

He had managed to extinguish the fire but then suffered the smoke inhalation, his brother said.

He was expected to be released around lunchtime, other family members said.

Locals believe a “belt of lightning” may have struck the fuse board, as there was severe lightning and thunder in the Kilgarvan and Mangerton area yesterday.

It is the latest accident in recent years to befall the Independent TD, author and businessman. In March 2016 he was tossed by a cow who had calved on his farm and he ended up in hospital, and almost exactly a year later he nearly choked when eating a chicken dinner.