Just three days before Christmas, a young boy died in a house fire.
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.
The brick house was completely on fire when emergency services arrived on the scene.
Firefighters rushed into the burning house and dragged out an unconscious young boy shortly before the house collapsed.
The four-year-old was rushed to Peel Health Campus where he sadly died despite the best attempts to revive him.
A teenage boy and a girl under the age of 10 who escaped the burning house managed to avoid serious injury but were taken to hospital with smoke inhalation.
The fatal fire is under investigation. A report will be prepared for the coroner.
It took forty minutes for the fire brigade to get under control, while the temperature rose to 40 degrees Celsius.
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)
The fire completely destroyed the house.
“The entire roof has collapsed and every room has been affected by fire,” district fire and emergency services officer Andrew Seuren told reporters.
‘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,” neighbor Sarah Benton said. ‘There was so much black smoke coming out, it was really thick. ‘
Another neighbor told The West they had tried to catch a dog that had fled the burning house.
A third saw emergency workers desperately trying to revive the boy.
The police are trying to support the grieving family.
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)
“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.
While investigators from the Arson Squad are expected to visit the home, Mr. Seuren warned that children are “playing with matches.”
“We would like to remind our community members to be careful when playing with matches and to always ensure they have a working smoke alarm so that residents of the home can get out early if a fire breaks out,” he said.
The fire is not considered suspicious.