A Northern Irish politician has said learning that his elderly parents had died in a house fire is “something I’ll never forget” and that for a time it was “like the world had stopped”.

One morning in January 2023, North Down MLA Alex Easton realised that his father had not rung him that day. 

Speaking to Lunchtime Live, he said the pair had a very close relationship and this was unusual. 

 “He was in a wheelchair, he'd had his legs amputated and every morning I would have got a call looking for me to go and do a message or fix something,” he explained. 

“So, that call didn't come in in the morning at the early stage but there was a missed call from his carers.”

When he got through to his parents’ carers, they told him the family home was on fire and Mr Easton jumped into his car. 

“So, we ran up the driveway, went down to the bedroom, the window had been put in by the fire brigade,” he remembered. 

“It was just black with smoke, I mean, you just couldn't make anything out from outside of what the fire had done.

“They got my Mum out and she had a pulse. So, sort of my hopes rose a wee bit but they wouldn't give much away about my dad.”

Not long afterwards, medics said they had also managed to detect a pulse from his father as well. 

It raised his hopes but then a fireman came out and asked to see him in private. 

“We went into the neighbour's house and he found it difficult to tell me,” Mr Easton recalled. 

“So, I told him that they'd both gone and he said, yes. Then the police had said that somebody needed to identify him. 

“My brother and sister came, so we had a conversation and it was always gonna be me.”

Just dreadful news. My heartfelt condolences to Alex Easton and the wider family circle and friends on the tragic death of his much loved parents in a house fire this morning. An absolute tragedy. https://t.co/CcgjksMZmJ

— Emma Little-Pengelly BL (@little_pengelly) January 23, 2023

Identifying his parents’ bodies, Mr Easton felt “like the world had stopped”. 

“I went round to the back garden and my Mum was lying on the ground,” he said. 

“And then I saw my Dad and he was just, he was black, I think it was the smoke.

“And then I went back out to the front to my brother and sister and we just held each other.”

Aftermath

After his parents’ funeral, Mr Easton threw himself back into his job as a member of the Northern Ireland Assembly and the following year was elected MP for North Down. 

As someone who loves helping people, he has always viewed work as his “safety blanket” but, with hindsight, thinks he went back to work too soon. 

“It got to an extent where I didn't want to be there anymore,” he said. 

“And such was the impact, I don't know what I want to say, but I doubt I would have been there for much longer but luckily for me, my GP phoned me out of the blue, somebody had spoken to them.” 

Since then, he has been diagnosed with PTSD and received counselling. 

Mr Easton said he decided to share the story of his parents’ deaths on their third anniversary in the hope it will encourage people who need help to reach out.

If you need emotional support, you can contact Samaritans on 116 123.

Main image: Alex Easton MP. Picture by: Alamy.com.