Heartbreak tinged with anger as firefighters mourned

A solemn beat echoed through a quiet street as the son of fireman Brian Murray held his hands around a brass plaque as it was hammered into a wall in tribute to his dead father.

The tribute will be a permanent reminder to the people of Bray of a man who had given up his life doing a job which many of us take for granted.

The devoted father of 15 died while attempting to extinguish a fire before a roof collapsed on both himself and his colleague, Mark O'Shaughnessy, crushing them to death as they battled the flames in an empty building on the Lower Dargle Road in Bray, Co Wicklow.

His son's anger was palpable as he described afterwards the pain of losing his loving dad for a reason which he believed was wholly preventable.

"I don't want to think my dad died for nothing. If there were more men there on the day my dad would still be alive. They would have been able to knock the frame [of the building] from the outside.

"He loved his job. He lived for it and he died for it" said the young man, who wished who remain un-named because he was talking on behalf of the whole Murray family.

"The fact that he died for nothing makes me so angry," he added.

The overwhelming sadness of the young man was matched in the actions of many locals passing by the scene.

A builder on his way to lunch slowed down and came to a standstill a couple of metres from the mass of flowers before bowing his head and blessing himself in silent reverence.

"In my dad's eyes, there was no I in team," explained the heartbroken son. "All the firefighters were one and anything they did, they did for each other.

"My mother is in shock. It hasn't hit her yet. And what do you tell my younger brothers and sisters who are as young as 18-months-old? They're sitting at the window waiting for their dad to come home each day. They just don't understand it."

His friend offers some words of comfort before describing how the firefighters, who were present on the night, are coping.

"They completely broke down when it happened. One of the firefighters has told me that he has lost a best mate and a wonderful colleague and his job all in the same day.

"He doesn't want to go back to the firefighting. How could he?"

A few miles away from the church, the fire station stands empty. Down the corridor, several firemen's uniforms hang from a rail. Boots and overalls stand at the ready, waiting for the next emergency to come in. The smell of fresh flowers fills the air of the isolated corridor.

But now there are two empty hooks and two empty spaces, where two heroic men should have returned to hang up their helmets -- ready for the next call-out.