\n<\/p>\n
His party colleague, Sinn F\u00e9in councillor John Hearne, also knows the family and described it as a “terrible tragedy”.<\/p>\n
Hearne told BBC News NI that residents living in the estate noticed the blaze at about 05:00 and they went out to wake up their neighbours to try to help. <\/p>\n
But he said it “all happened so fast” and was “hugely distressing for everyone involved”. <\/p>\n
Independent councillor Donal Barry had also been working with the family very recently.<\/p>\n
Speaking to the BBC’s Evening Extra programme, he was audibly upset by their deaths. <\/p>\n
“Only last Thursday I was speaking to Kim on the phone in relation to a matter I was dealing with,” he said. <\/p>\n
“As soon as I went up there this morning and I looked and saw the house, my heart sank. I knew who it was then.”<\/p>\n
Barry said the immediate family were “well thought of” in Waterford and the community has been “numbed” by the attack. <\/p>\n
The councillor added that there was “devastation” in local schools where the couple’s children were pupils. <\/p>\n
He praised the efforts made by the local council which set up a support hub at Butler Community Centre in St John’s Park in the aftermath of the attack. <\/p>\n
“Waterford City and County Council won’t be found wanting in any support which they can give the community,” he said.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n