A mother of seven was sedated after detectives told her three of her children died in a house fire allegedly set by their father.
Dean Heasman, 28, allegedly barricaded his partner Stacey Gammage, 29, and their children inside their government-owned home in Lalor Park, in Sydney’s west, at about 1am on Sunday and set it alight.
Two children, aged three and six, were taken to Westmead Hospital in a critical condition but died from their injuries.
Once the firefighters extinguished the flames, they found the body of a 10-month-old girl, whose body was removed from the building during forensic investigations on Sunday afternoon.
Detectives swarmed the home throughout Sunday searching for clues about how the fire started and whether Heasman allegedly used a fire accelerant.
Among the evidence recovered from the house were two water bottles with a brown, petroleum-like liquid inside.
Neighbours told Daily Mail Australia that the three front rooms of the house were quickly engulfed in flames, before electrical wires began sparking and shorted out the house.
Witnesses say they heard Heasman screaming “let me die here” as she allegedly tried to prevent neighbours and emergency services from saving her children.
Dean Heasman, 28, and Stacey Gammage, 29, are pictured together. They had seven children, three of whom have since passed away.
Pictured: A forensic investigator removed a bottle containing a brown petroleum-like liquid from the scene where three children were burned to death.
Pictured: Forensic experts hold a second bottle of tea-brown liquid, during an investigation into the cause of the fire.
Neighbor Jarrod Hawkins, whose daughter was friends with one of the surviving children, was hailed as a hero after he ran into the burning house and saved a nine-year-old girl and her three brothers, ages 4, 7 and 11.
The older boy told his rescuers: “Dad tried to kill me.”
Once Mr Hawkins emerged from the burning house with four children, they were placed across the street before another neighbour, Damien Dubois, decided to move them away from the scene.
“I had all four kids and they were cold so we picked them up and took them into the back bedroom of my house,” Dubois told Daily Mail Australia.
‘I was trying to comfort them. The two younger children weren’t saying anything, so I picked them up and got them out of the way of all that trauma.
“They didn’t need to see everything.”
Mr Dubois recalled that just a few weeks ago Heasman was taking some of the children on quad bike rides around the local neighbourhood.
The government property at Lalor Park was quickly engulfed in flames in the early hours of Sunday morning.
Pictured: A fire and rescue worker removing soot and debris from the property on Sunday.
Neighbors and family friends left wreaths for the three children who died Sunday.
Friends of the family arrived at the scene after news of the tragedy broke on Sunday and many left floral tributes.
Family friend Douglas King added: “I wouldn’t have believed it if I hadn’t seen it with my own eyes.
“(Heasman) was always with his children and was good with them: friendly, calm and collected. Last year he told me he was expecting a baby.”
Mr King said he was devastated by the tragedy because he thought Heasman, whom he affectionately called “Deano Reamo” and “Deano the Albino”, was a “respectful and moral person”.
She added: “Deano was a good person. It’s crazy. It’s devastating. I hope the kids fight through this. I hope they survive. I feel bad for Stacey.”
Another said: “I’ve known Deano since we were grasshoppers in preschool and I can’t believe this.”
Neighbour Jarrod Hawkins (pictured hugging his son) was praised for rushing into the burning house. Police said his actions “saved more lives”.
Neighbour Damien Dubois (pictured) rushed to the scene to bring the surviving children inside, away from the burning house.
During a press conference on Sunday, Blacktown Police Acting Superintendent Jason Pietruszka said Hawkins’ actions at the scene “saved more lives.”
He could not confirm whether Heasman was armed while trying to prevent others from entering the property, but said that will be a line of investigation in the coming days.
Homicide squad Detective Superintendent Danny Doherty said Police were treating the fire as a domestic-related multiple homicide.
He said Ms Gammage and her surviving children are being treated at Westmead Hospital for burns and smoke inhalation.
Heasman is in police custody in an induced coma in the intensive care unit. No charges have been filed against him.
“At this stage it appears the 28-year-old man is responsible for multiple deaths of young lives that have been tragically taken,” Detective Superintendent Doherty said.
‘We allege the 28-year-old man took steps to prevent the young men inside from being rescued.’