Six bodies found in remains of house fire on Russell Island
Six bodies found in remains of house fire on Russell Island
Police believe they’ve found the bodies of five young boys and their 34-year-old father in the charred rubble of their home on Russell Island, south-east of Brisbane, after a devastating fire that engulfed three houses.
- Six bodies have been found in the remains of a house fire on Russell Island
- Emergency services were called just after 6am on Sunday
- Flames spread to three neighbouring properties
Queensland Police Superintendent Mat Kelly said fire crews were called to Todman Street just after 6:20am on Sunday and found a distressed woman outside a house that was “fully alight.”
Flames quickly spread to three neighbouring properties as crews from the Rural Fire Service and Queensland Fire and Emergency Services (QFES) raced to put them out.
Residents named the distraught woman as the children’s mother, Samantha Stephenson, and their father as Wayne Godinet.
The boys — who have not been named — were aged 11, 10, twins aged four and their three-year-old brother.
Post-mortem examinations will take place to confirm the identities of the bodies, but police say an initial examination of the scene suggests they belong to the young family.
“It’s tragic … young boys that could have become men into the future,” Superintendent Kelly said.
“A man has lost his life as well, truly devastating for the community at Russell Island and certainly for the emergency services as well.”
“We’re still speaking with this poor lady who has lost her entire family. She is extremely distressed at this point in time,” Superintendent Kelly said.
Police said Ms Stephenson, 28, was inside the home at the time of the blaze but managed to escape unharmed, though she was taken to hospital in a stable condition.
A 21-year-old woman was also taken to hospital and is in a stable condition.
The flames sent smoke billowing above Russell Island, home to around 3,700 people, a short ferry ride from Redland Bay, south-east of Brisbane.
Residents Kylie Purtell and her father Matt phoned triple 0 and described the fire as an “inferno”.
“Those trees over there, the flames were three quarters of the way up. You haven’t seen a blaze like that,” said Mr Purtell.
He says the children were “wonderful”.
“Always waving, always a smile, I’ll never forget those kids,” he said.
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Ricky Hale, 83, said he grabbed a hose and tried to help stop the fire spreading to other homes.
“The flames were so high that within the hour, the house was gone. It was terrible, terrible,” he said.
“They had no hope, no hope of getting out. Nothing you could do,” he said.
At 11:30am, one of the three homes was still alight with firefighters having trouble reaching the flames due to a collapsed roof, said John Cawcutt, Assistant Commissioner, QFES.
“With the roof coming down, it makes it very difficult for the water to get in and fully extinguished the fire so that’s one of the reasons we will be there for the next few days,” Mr Cawcutt said.
Fire investigators are waiting for the area to be declared safe before they can enter the properties to find the cause of the blaze. The investigation will include whether the home had functioning fire alarms.
Witness Michelle James saw black smoke rising from the property from her verandah on a neighbouring street.
“I heard an explosion, and I thought it was a gunshot,” she said. “My dog, my puppy was just going berserk.”
“I looked out at my verandah and I said to my partner, ‘There’s a house burning’.”
Ms James said she could only see one house on fire, but she later learned that another two others beside it were alight.
“The one on the end copped it the worst,” she said.
Another witness, who didn’t want to be named, said she heard sirens just after six o’clock, which caught her attention as normally they’re not used by the local fire service.
She said police have cordoned off the street and there was police tape around all three properties.
“One house is completely destroyed and the one right next to it looked like the roof was going to collapse,” she said.
Paramedics attended to nine patients, including neighbours, according to Queensland Police.
Queensland Opposition Leader David Crisafulli said the images emerging of the fire were “deeply troubling”.
“These are the kinds of communities where everyone knows everyone, and it’s a place where people matter. And in tight-knit communities, these incidents rock really, really hard,” he said.
Police are appealing to anyone with relevant information, or video of the fire, to come forward.
