A four-year-old boy who died in a house fire has been remembered as a “beautiful, carefree boy” as heartbreaking images emerged of frantic attempts to rescue him.
Emergency services were called to the Carnoustie Gardens home in the Mandurah suburb of Meadow Springs, south of Perth, about 1.50pm on Sunday.
Terrified neighbors told firefighters that a four-year-old boy was trapped in a room at the back of the property that was already engulfed in flames.
Two older brothers had managed to escape, while their parents were Christmas shopping with three other brothers.
The boy, who is one of eight siblings, was rushed to Peel Health Campus, where he sadly died.
CCTV captured a seven-year-old girl fleeing the house as the fire began to rage, closely followed by her 16-year-old brother.
The teenager tried to run back into the house to rescue his little brother, but the fierce fire forced him back.
Neighbors who also rushed to the house were also overwhelmed by the heat and smoke.
A four-year-old boy tragically died in a house fire three days before Christmas
CCTV shows firefighters rushing into the house as the boy’s shocked siblings and neighbors watch from the street.
Firefighters were seen arriving on the scene and running toward the burning house as the boy’s shocked siblings and neighbors watched helplessly from the street.
Firefighters managed to remove the unconscious boy shortly before the building collapsed.
Neighbor Loretta Westcott told Daily Mail Australia the boy was the same age as her granddaughter.
“We would see him playing in the paddling pool and playing with the hose,” she said.
“He was a happy-go-lucky, beautiful, healthy child.”
Westcott, 51, her husband and four children were among the first to arrive at the scene after noticing smoke coming from the front door.
“My husband thought maybe one of the kids had burned something while cooking and that we could help them out,” she said.
‘At this time, two of the older children were outside the front of the house.
‘One of them (a teenager) had the garden hose. He was doing everything he could to put out the fire.
“But at that point, it went from a little bit of smoke to a cloud of black smoke coming out the door in a matter of seconds and he was telling me that the boy was in the back room.”
They tried to fight the inferno with a fire extinguisher, but it burned fiercely and they couldn’t get around the back.
“We were all shouting as loud as we could, ‘Go to the back door, get out the back, get out the back, get out the back,'” Mrs. Westcott said.
A child has died and two other children are being treated for smoke inhalation after a horrific house fire in Mandurah just days before Christmas (pictured)
It took firefighters about 40 minutes to bring the fire under control, but not before it destroyed the house and collapsed the roof (pictured).
‘We don’t know if he heard us, we could hear the tiles and windows breaking.
He was starting to make a big fuss.
The fire brigade soon arrived and Mrs Westcott made sure everyone knew the boy was inside.
“They managed to get out from behind and a few seconds later someone came out with him, and the first thing they did was dive into a children’s pool, which was under the patio,” he added.
‘They were doing CPR as best they could. I held part of the blanket to cover him from the sun.
‘And I was talking to him, telling him “Wait, come back to us, buddy.” Mom and Dad need you, Santa wants to see you.’
“Anything I could think of except 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.
Westcott said first responders were “doing everything they can.”
‘It was very obvious he had smoke inhalation. “There were a lot of black marks around his mouth,” he said.
Westcott said the house was “completely destroyed.”
The family of ten now faces Christmas without their little brother and without a home to live in.
“They now face the daunting task of rebuilding their lives from scratch,” he said. GoFundMe pagecreated by the boy’s grandmother, Teresa Heslewood said.
“This is a heartbreaking time for them and they urgently need support to cover basic needs such as clothing, food and temporary accommodation, funeral expenses, as well as help to start over.”
The GoFundMe page has raised nearly $15,000 so far.
Detectives are understood to be investigating the theory that the boy may have been playing with a lighter before the fire broke out.
An investigation into the fatal fire is underway. A report will be prepared for the coroner.
It took firefighters 40 minutes to bring the fire under control as temperatures soared to 40C.
The house was completely destroyed by the fire.
“The entire roof has collapsed and every room has been affected by the fire,” Department of Fire and Emergency Services district officer Andrew Seuren told reporters.
“The house fire was too intense for even the public to approach when (firefighters) arrived.”
The fire has shaken the tight-knit community.
“(It’s) so close to Christmas and it’s not even the house, it’s just security, like it’s someone’s poor baby,” said neighbor Sarah Benton.
“There was so much black smoke coming out that it was very thick.”
Another neighbor told The West that they had tried to help catch a dog that fled the burning house.
A cat and kitten are also feared to have died in the fire.
Police are working to support the grieving family.
“Losing someone, especially a child, can be confronting for anyone, but as police officers that’s what we do and we’re here to make sure the family is well supported,” Detective Tiarna Eades said.
While fire squad investigators are expected to attend the home, Mr Seuren issued a warning about children “playing with matches”.
“We would simply like to remind members of our community to be careful when playing with matches and to always make sure you have a working smoke alarm to help the occupants of the home get out early when there is a fire,” he said.
The fire is not considered suspicious.