Courageous Carer Awarded For Saving Woman In House Blaze

A carer who rescued an 84-year-old woman from a burning house won the National Courage Award.

Eileen Feehan (64), from Termonfeckin, Co Louth, braved thick black smoke to save Molly Woods, the woman she worked for as a carer, from almost certain death in December last year.

Mrs Feehan dragged the 84-year-old from the bedroom floor of her house, after initially turning back because the smoke was so strong.

“I went up there in my pyjamas,” she told the Irish Independent. “There were no flames, just smoke. And the heat, I’ve never experienced anything like it.

“I said to myself, ‘I can’t leave her like this’ and I just went in and grabbed her.

“I went up to the nursing home today to see her.

“I was wearing the clothes I wore to the ceremony. She told me I looked like a million dollars and she was crying a bit.”

Mrs Feehan was praised for her “quick-thinking, bravery and sheer refusal to give up in the face of adversity”.