A LEADING New York TV journalist has sent a message of thanks to firefighters in Limerick for saving her childhood home from a burning blaze.
Bloomberg TV anchor and host of Bloomberg Opinion Vonnie Quinn tweeted her “immeasurable gratitude” to the crews who came out to tackle the fire at Tir Chonaill on the Ennis Road, which spread to an adjoining home on April 4.
Ms Quinn, who was born and raised in Limerick, said on Twitter last week that she wanted to express her “immeasurable gratitude to Limerick Shannon and Cappamore Firefighters for saving our childhood home after hours-long effort”.
The New York-based anchor moved to the States in 2004 and attended Columbia University, where she achieved and MA and MS in Journalism. She joined Bloomberg in 2006.
Ms Quinn has been the recipient of numerous prestigious awards and interviewed US and global central bankers, presidents, prime ministers, legislators, CEOs, entrepreneurs, and strategists about macroeconomic themes and controversies, the direction of policy and markets, and the leading stories of the day.
Ms Quinn has been awarded the ABC Frank Reynolds Fellowship, a French government medal, a Swiss Government Scholarship, and a National University of Ireland Travelling Studentship.
Speaking about her Irish heritage, Ms Quinn said: “My mother was the first Tipperary woman to be hired as a Pan American air-stewardess and my dad travelled the world as chief civil engineer for Ireland’s electricity supply board. I’m proud to continue the family tradition of representing an Irish upbringing full of music, dance, culture, and education on a global stage.”
“Being Irish, to me, means having an unbounded curiosity about the world,” she added.
Fire crews were forced to fight the blaze from high-rise ladders because of the difficulties in getting a platform appliance into the closely grouped row of period homes. It took four hours to bring the blaze under control at Ms Quinn’s former childhood home.
A man appeared in court last Thursday (April 6) charged with an arson attack on the house on the Ennis road.
Darren Holland (41), formerly of Moyross but without a current fixed abode, appeared before a special sitting of Limerick District Court sitting in Ennis, Co Clare.
Mr Holland was charged with one count of arson at Tir Chonaill, Ennis Road, Limerick City, on April 4, 2023.
Gardaí were alerted to a fire at the early 19th century three-storey, red-brick, semi-detached property, at approximately 9.40pm the previous Tuesday night. No injuries were reported.
