Girl's 'frantic' call from blaze

[Harley Quinn]

An inquest into the deaths of a family of seven in a fire in Omagh has heard a distressing phone call made by a teenage girl from her burning home.

It was made by Caroline, 13, daughter of Lorraine McGovern who could be heard pleading: "Help me! Help me!"

Much of the remainder of the call is too graphic to report. At one point she cries: "He's... He's..."

Lorraine McGovern, Arthur McElhill and their five children died in the fire at Lammy Crescent, Omagh, two years ago.

Mr McElhill, who had convictions for sexually assaulting teenage girls, was suspected of starting the fire.

At the inquest in Omagh on Tuesday, relatives of both families heard harrowing details about how they and their five children died.

They heard that they were all alive when the fire started and they had to be identified using dental records.

Members of the McElhill and McGovern families sat opposite each other at the inquest.

More If You Follow The Link = http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/northern_ireland/foyle_and_west/8315465.stm

[mrmcdonaldduck]

god, what the hell happended??? why didnt they send people???

[nick]

How horrible

[Kaleidoscope Eyes]

god, what the hell happended??? why didnt they send people???

I'm sure people were sent out, or that would have been something brought up at the inquest as far as determining if anyone is at fault. They're only looking into the father, though, and the possibility that he intentionally started the fire.
If you click the link to the full article, it mentions people at the scene looking up at the house and seeing him by the window, so clearly people were there before everyone was dead. I don't know if those were neighbors or rescue workers, I assume neighbors though.

The reason they have so much recorded of the call, probably up to a few minutes' worth, is because in situations like this they want you to stay on the line as long as possible or until help arrives. In this case, they probably got the basic, "My house is burning down and we can't get out," info right off the bat, but they would want to try to keep talking to the girl to see if she can tell them how it started, how many people are in the house, because that's important information. Also, it helps the victim to have someone calm to talk to.