Corio fire: Grieving father whose two little girls died in a horror garden shed fire breaks down in tears as he reveals his brave four-year-old son’s desperate act to try and save them
A grief-stricken father said he ‘couldn’t be more proud’ of his four-year-old son, who tried to save his siblings from a devastating fire that tragically claimed their lives.
Kane McGregor’s youngest children – Saige, three, and Ashlynn, 18 months – died on Sunday morning when a sofa in a garden shed at their home in Corio, south-west of Melbourne, caught fire.
Their older siblings, Isaac, four, and Mavis, six, were saved when they were pulled from the burning barn by their desperate mother, Jasmine Beck.
They both suffered life-threatening burns and remain in intensive care.
Now a heartbroken Mr McGregor has revealed that little Isaac heroically tried to protect his little brothers and sisters from the inferno.
Mavis and Isaac (center and right) are in intensive care with severe burns. Ashlynn and Saige (front, as a baby and left) died in the fire
“She (Ms Beck) said that when she finally moved the sofa and grabbed Mavis first, Isaac held the other two under him so they didn’t burn, as if he were staying there until he himself died,” Mr McGregor told reporters. Tuesday.
“They revived him and flew him here (Melbourne’s Royal Children’s Hospital). Actually, I couldn’t be more proud of him.’
The father, choking back tears, added: “What four-year-old crawls over their two little brothers and sisters?”
Isaac is fighting for his life, with burns to more than 80 percent of his body, while his sister Mavis is now in a stable condition.
Mr McGregor was not at home at the time of the accident.
“As I was leaving, Isaac came up to me and gave me a hug and a kiss,” he said.
“An hour later I get a phone call… I haven’t even finished it yet, I’m just here with the other two.”
Kane McGregor’s (pictured) youngest children – Saige, three, and Ashlynn, 18 months – died on Sunday morning when a sofa caught fire in a garden shed at their home in Corio, south-west of Melbourne.
Pictured: The barn where two children, Ashlynn and Saige, died Sunday morning. Mavis and Isaac were seriously injured
Jasmine Beck is pictured with her four children: Mavis, six, Isaac, five, Saige, three, and Ashlynn, 18 months
Mr McGregor suggested police investigate whether the children were playing with a click lighter before the fire ignited.
The children’s aunt and uncle, Sarah Guardiano and Anthony McGregor, remembered Saige and Ashlynn as rambunctious, mischievous and loving.
Ms Guardiano said the children’s mother ran into the shed and dragged her two eldest children to safety, suffering burns to her hands.
“She did her best to get them all out so quickly,” she told reporters.
Enthusiasts have raised nearly $50,000 for the family so far GoFundMe page.
Police are not treating the fire as suspicious as arson and explosives detectives continue to investigate the cause.