Man found dead after house fire at Boogan, south of Innisfail

A man’s body has been discovered at the scene of house fire, where passersby described flames and smoke “gushing from a window”. What witnesses saw.

A WITNESS to a fatal house fire has described how he and his son attempted to rouse any occupants while flames and smoke “gushed from a window” at a property south of Innisfail on Thursday night.

Innisfail United head coach Paul Piccolo, 58, said he was on his way home from training with his son Matthew, 24, when they noticed the home on Boogan Rd, Boogan, was alight.

“I was driving home from soccer just after 8pm when we saw smoke from the house, there were flames gushing out of a back window,” he said.

“We stopped and I called triple-0 while my son knocked on the door on the door to see if anyone was inside.

“We yelled out but there was no answer.

“We could not get inside because of the flames and the smoke, I was in tracksuit pants, runners and a shirt and Matthew was in his training kit.”

Mr Piccolo said after calling for emergency services, he ran across the road to a neighbouring property to see if they knew who lived there.

“I went across the road to the neighbour but they said they did no know if anyone was at home, so we waited for the fire brigade.”

Mr Piccolo said the smell of smoke and the heat from the flames was intensive.

“You could smell the smoke which was blowing towards the road,” he said.

Police have reported that a fatal house fire at Boogan south of Innisfail which was attended by 12 firefighters shortly after 8pm on August 25, was not suspicious. Photo: Paul Piccolo

Police said they are preparing a report for the coroner after the body of a man was located following a house fire in a village south of Cairns later on Thursday night.

On Friday police said emergency services were called to a home along Boogan Road, Boogan which is around 99km south of Cairns.

A Queensland Police representative said the body of a man, believed to be aged in his 60s, was subsequently located inside.

“Police will prepare a report for the coroner after the body of a man was located following a house fire in Boogan around 10pm last night,” she said.

“There are no suspicious circumstances.”

Queensland Fire and Emergency Services, Innisfail Captain Mark Csukardy said three fire trucks plus a senior officer attended the fire.

As the officer in the charge of the incident, Mr Csukardy, 45, co-ordinated the firefighter’s response, which he said was complicated by roadworks.

“There were repairs on the road being done at the time and we had trouble in locating water supply and there were no nearby tanks or pools we could draft from,” he said.

“We did end up finding a hydrant about 40m away which we used.”

Mr Csukardy said 12 firefighters attended the incident.

“We received a call about 8.10pm and we responded from Innisfail with two fire trucks and one fire appliance from El Arish fire station,” he said.

“When we arrived most of the back part of the timber single-storey house was fully involved and smoke was pouring out through the front.”

The intensity of the flames was so high that firefighters could not enter the property.

“Our firefighters wore breathing apparatuses to contain the fire but it was too dangerous to carry out an internal attack,” Mr Csukardy said.

“So we did an external attack to protect the adjoining garage and the vehicle which we moved out away from the buildings.”

It is understood that after the fire was extinguished that the man’s body was discovered.

“When we arrived, initially at that point we did not have any word if anyone was reported missing until we saw the vehicle in the garage and the police tried to contact the occupant,” Mr Csukardy said.

“We finished up a midnight and left a crew for fire watch there to deal with any flare-ups.

“The crews did an excellent job in extinguishing the fire in a safe manner and I’m really proud of them.”

A Queensland Ambulance Services representative confirmed that paramedics attended the scene but did not transport any patients.

Originally published as Man found dead after house fire at Boogan, south of Innisfail