I failed her, says man who tried to save tragic Brooke Reid (12) during house blaze

Phillip Rouke was in a relationship with Brooke’s mother Martha McMaster.

He said: “I blame myself every single day.”

Mr Rouke told the inquest at the Coroner’s Court Brooke had been her “usual bubbly self” that day and her mother was visiting her sister in Ahoghill when the fire started.

He had been playing World of Warcraft in another bedroom when the fire alarm went off.

He then went out into the landing to check, initially believing it to be a false alarm.

When Mr Rouke opened the door of Brooke’s bedroom, he was hit by thick black smoke. He called for the girl, but there was no response.

Mr Rouke ran out to the front of the home where bystanders informed him that Brooke was in the house and had been spotted at the window calling for help.

Despite trying to re-enter five times, Mr Rouke could not get to Brooke. “I failed her,” he said.

The inquest heard from both Mr Rouke and Ms McMaster that the pair had been so close Brooke had even asked Mr Rouke to adopt her.

The hearing was told that the fire started on Brooke’s bed and was highly likely to have been caused by a candle.

A child lock on the bedroom window may have prevented her escape and other members of the local community had tried to get into the house to rescue her.

The coroner referenced Northern Ireland Fire and Rescue Service guidance which states that, in the event of a housefire, bystanders should not go into a burning house to save anyone who may still be inside. They advise that they should wait for the fire service instead.

In a statement read to the inquest from Ms McMaster, Brooke was described as a “sensible, quiet girl” and a “popular” student at Dunclug College in Ballymena.

She enjoyed going to church and would often nip to the shop before school to get breakfast for her family.

At the time of her death, principal Ruth Wilson offered the school’s “heartfelt sympathies” to the family.

She said: “The staff and pupils of Dunclug College record deep sorrow on the tragic death of their beloved pupil, Brooke Reid, in Year 9, and send support and prayers to her grieving parents and family circle. ‘Suffer the little ones to come unto me’.”

Speaking to the Belfast Telegraph at the time of the tragedy, her grandfather Billy McMaster said “nothing is ever going to be the same again”.

“Brooke was very close to me. She was granda’s girl,” he added.

The family had already been hit by tragedy several times in the past.

Mr McMaster said: “Martha lost a little boy, Brooklyn, who was stillborn 12 or 13 years ago, and my younger daughter, Christine, lost her first son, Travis, two weeks before he was due to be born.

“I also lost my first son to a cot death when he was just seven days old and my 18-year-old nephew, Stuart, a soldier, was killed when a parachute jump went wrong.”