Late Irish Firefighter Cared for by Nurse He Rescued as Girl

An Irish firefighter who died earlier this month was cared for in hospice by a woman he had saved when she was girl.

Kieran Barr had been a firefighter with the Northern Ireland Fire & Rescue Service in for more than 20 years, serving as station commander at the Cresent Link Fire Station before retiring in 2008, the Derry Journal reports. He was diagnosed with cancer a few months after retiring, and he died March 1 in Foyle Hospice, where he had been since January.

During his stay at hospice, one of the nurses caring for Barr had been rescued by the firefighter when she was a child, according to Claire Barber, Barr's daughter. Being humble, Barr didn't tell his family about meeting the nurse again after all these years, and they only found out all the details of the encounter from a doctor.  

“Daddy remembered the nurse and remembered that she was hiding behind curtains when he saved her from the house fire,” Barber told the Journal.

Barr was awarded a medal for bravery for his actions that day, the first of two he would receive as a firefighter.

“He said that the firemen were told not to go into the house. But Daddy went on in and got the wee girl. He got burned in the fire as well," Barber added.