Hor-ror at Family Home: Desperate Sounds From Burning Garage Trigger Heroic Rescue Attempt as Suspicious Blaze Leaves One De-a-d
A man has died and two others are fighting for life after a suspicious fire ripped through a family home on the Gold Coast.
Emergency services were called to the two-storey Sickle Ave house on Hope Island about 11.45pm on Tuesday with firefighters rushing to contain the blaze.
The house was extensively damaged and a crime scene was declared with police believing the fire was deliberately lit.
Detective Superintendent Chris Ahearn said emergency services were met with a “very confronting scene” with the discovery of the body of a 38-year-old man found inside the burnt out home.
Ahearn said two men, aged 44 and 84, were first alerted to the fire when they heard “crackling” from inside a first-floor bedroom and suffered extensive burns after trying to get into the locked room.
They were both rushed to Royal Brisbane and Women’s Hospital in life-threatening conditions.
A 59-year-old woman suffered back, hip and leg injuries after she was forced to jump from a second floor balcony to escape the fire.
She was taken to Gold Coast University Hospital in a stable condition. Another 38-year-old man was able to evacuate the home without injury.
Neighbour Eli Bijl-Kakoi, 20, said he and his friend, Meihani Pauling, also 20, were watching a movie when they heard a woman screaming outside the house.
They ran out to find the woman on the road yelling that her father was still inside the burning house.
“She said her 84-year-old dad was in the garage,” he said.
Bijl-Kakoi said he and his friend’s first instinct was the run to the garage where they heard banging on the metal from the inside.
“We lifted the garage door up and the older man rolled out, then we dragged him out,” he said.
“Another man put his arms out, we told him to lie down and we pulled him out.
“I was in shock.”
Pauling said they were rushing to get the two men out of the house after they heard multiple explosions.
“We tried to get them onto the grass before the house blew up again,” he said.
Pauling said he went up to the elderly man after they were safe, not realising how injured he was.
“I touched his arm and his skin began peeling,” he said.
“Another man began spraying them with a hose and the paramedics arrived shortly after that.”
Ahearn said the 84-year-old had received burns to over 50 per cent of his body, while the 44-year-old received burns to 40 per cent of his body, and both remained in critical condition.
He confirmed police had been called to the home only a week prior, where a domestic violence order was put in place.
Police have called on anyone with information to aid ongoing investigations by contacting Crime Stoppers.
