A four-year-old boy who died in a house fire has been remembered as a ‘beautiful, happy child’ as harrowing footage emerged of the frantic efforts to save him.
Emergency services were called to the Carnoustie Gardens home in the Mandurah suburb of Meadow Springs, south of Perth, at around 1.50pm on Sunday.
Firefighters were told by panicked neighbors that a four-year-old boy was trapped in a room at the back of the property, which was already engulfed in flames.
Two older siblings who were home at the time managed to escape while their parents were Christmas shopping with three other siblings.
The boy, one of eight siblings, was rushed to Peel Health Campus where he sadly died.
CCTV captured his seven-year-old sister making a panicked flight to safety as the fire began to grow, with her 16-year-old brother following close behind.
The teen then tried to run back inside to save his little brother, but was forced back by the intense anger.
Neighbors who also rushed to the house were also overwhelmed by the intense heat and smoke which they described as “hell on earth.”
A four-year-old boy tragically died in a house fire three days before Christmas
CCTV footage shows firefighters rushing into the house as the boy’s shocked siblings and neighbors watch from the street
Firefighters arrived on the scene and rushed into the burning house as the boy’s shocked siblings and neighbors watched helplessly from the street.
The crew managed to drag the boy out unconscious shortly before the building collapsed.
Neighbor Loretta Westcott told Daily Mail Australia the little boy was the same age as her granddaughter.
“We saw him in the front of the wading pool playing with the hose,” she said.
“He was a happy, beautiful, healthy little boy.”
Mrs Westcott, 51, her husband and her four children were first on the scene after seeing smoke coming from the front door.
“My husband thought maybe one of the kids had burned something while cooking and maybe we could help them get out,” she said.
“At that time, two of the older children were standing at the front of the house.
“One of them (a teenage boy) had the garden hose. He did his utmost to put out the fire.
“But by then it went from a little bit of smoke to a billow of black smoke coming out the door within a few seconds and he told me the child was in the back room.”
They tried to fight the inferno with a fire extinguisher, but it was raging fiercely and they could not get around the back.
“We were all shouting at the top of our lungs, ‘go to the back door, get out, go to the back, get out,’” Mrs Westcott said.
A young boy has died and two other children are being treated for smoke inhalation after a horrific house fire in Mandurah just days before Christmas (pictured)
‘We don’t know if he heard us, we could hear the tiles and the windows cracking.
“It just started making a huge fuss.”
She added that firefighters did everything they could to save the little boy.
“They managed to get out the back and a few seconds later someone came out with him and the first thing they did was dunk in a kiddie pool, which was under the patio,” Ms Westcott added.
“They performed CPR as best they could. I held on to part of the blanket to protect him from the sun.
‘And I spoke to him and said,’ “Hang in there, come back to us, buddy. Mom and Dad need you, Santa wants to see you.”
“Everything I could think of, but hearing a voice, hearing his name, associating it with the fact that someone knew him, trying to get him to fight.”
‘At that point they had a heartbeat, but he wasn’t breathing.
Ms Westcott said first responders did “everything they could”.
‘It was very clear that he had inhaled smoke. “He had a lot of black spots around his mouth,” she said.
Mrs Westcott said the house was ‘completely destroyed’.
The family of ten now faces Christmas without their little brother or a house to live in.
The boy’s sister and brother were taken to hospital for treatment for smoke inhalation but have since been discharged.
It took about 40 minutes for firefighters to get the fire under control, but not before the house was destroyed and the roof collapsed (photo)
“They now face the overwhelming task of rebuilding their lives from scratch,” he says GoFundMe pagefounded by the child’s grandmother, Teresa Heslewood.
‘I’m raising money to help her and her family through this terrible situation that no one should have to go through.
“This is a heartbreaking time for them, and they urgently need support for basic needs such as clothing, food and temporary housing, funeral costs, and help to start over.”
The GoFundMe page has already raised nearly $28,000 in just a few hours.
It is understood detectives are investigating the theory that the boy may have been playing with a cigarette and lighter before the fire broke out.
‘We would just like to remind our community members to be careful when playing matches and to always ensure they have a working smoke alarm so that the occupants of the home can get out early if there is a fire outbreak,” according to the Fire and Emergency Department. Services district officer Andrew Seuren told reporters.
The fatal fire is under investigation. A report will be prepared for the coroner.
The fire is not considered suspicious.
Investigators remained at the scene Monday, sifting through the stripped debris.
It took forty minutes for the fire brigade to get under control, while the temperature rose to 40 degrees Celsius.
“The entire roof has collapsed and every room has been affected by fire,” Mr Seuren said.
‘The house fire was so intense that even the public could not reach it when the fire brigade arrived.’
The fire has rocked the close-knit community.
“It’s so close to Christmas and it’s not even about the house, it’s just about safety, like it’s someone’s poor baby,” said neighbor Sarah Benton.
“There was so much black smoke coming out and it was really thick.”
Another neighbor told The West they had tried to catch a dog that had fled the burning house.
It is feared that two cats have also died in the fire.
The police are trying to support the grieving family.
“Losing someone, especially a child, can be confronting for anyone, but as police officers that is what we do and we are here to ensure the family is properly supported,” Detective Inspector Tiarna Eades said.