'Santa' saves homeless man
A student dressed as Santa Claus made an early Christmas dash to save a homeless man from a blaze.
Dubliner John Rooney revealed he extinguished a fire in a shop doorway before ripping smouldering clothes off a man who had been sleeping there.
The 20-year-old, from Glasnevin, had been staying at the Occupy Dame Street camp before walking over the Ha’penny Bridge at about 5am on Christmas morning.
“I saw smoke and flames coming from a shop doorway and ran down and saw a man lying on the ground beside it,” he said.
“Some taxis had pulled up so I took a mobile and called 999 and got an extinguisher out of a taxi and put the fire out.
“I went to check on the man and his clothes were still smouldering so I began to rip off his clothes so they wouldn’t burn him.
“His right hand side sleeve and the top of his trousers were smouldering, but I don’t think they got through to the skin because he had a couple of layers on.”
Mr Rooney, who is studying architecture technology, said he stayed with the man until firefighters and an ambulance arrived at Bachelors Walk.
He has been living at the Dame Street camp for his Christmas break from Dun Laoghaire college and had been dressed in a Santa suit on Christmas Eve to hand flyers out to passers by before tackling the fire.
“I don’t know if his belongings were set on fire by someone or if he started it himself to keep warm,” added Mr Rooney.
“He just seemed a bit fazed by it all.”
