Girl, 8, dead, woman missing, feared dead, in unit block fire at Thorneside, south of Brisbane
New details have emerged of neighbours’ desperate attempts to save a “well-loved” little girl who died in a ferocious fire, with grave concerns for her missing babysitter, who has been identified.
Emergency Services
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New details have emerged of neighbours’ heroic attempts to save a little girl who died in a townhouse fire south of Brisbane amid ongoing concerns for her missing babysitter.
Neighbours of the Thorneside townhouse desperately fought the blaze with garden hoses, fire extinguishers and even buckets of water but they were unable to save eight-year-old Raven Contini.
Firefighters hold grave fears for a woman in her 30s, who was still unaccounted for on Monday morning.
The woman has been identified as Stephanie “Stephy” Ryan, who was on a holiday from Darwin.
It’s understood Ms Ryan was on a holiday to visit friends, and was staying at the Bayside Court home after arriving from the Northern Territory on Thursday.
It’s understood she was babysitting Raven while her mother Chloe Rodgers-Falk and stepfather Matthew Rodgers-Falk were in Ballina, northern NSW. The couple raced home after receiving the news.
Another man who lived at the property and was not home at the time of the fire and said he had lost everything in the blaze.
In a tearful interview, Ms Ryan’s grandmother, Thelma Cowell, described her as a “loveable child”.
“My granddaughter was babysitting,” she said.
“She was a loveable child, annoying, but she was a loveable child.”
Mrs Cowell said her granddaughter was in Brisbane on holiday from Alice Springs.
“She had only been up three days,” she said.
“She’s been up before, come from Alice Springs.
“She worked with her father at Repco.”
Queensland Police Service Chief Inspector Karl Hahne said police, fire and ambulance officers arrived to find two units engulfed by fire that was “burning very hot”.
Neighbour Elliot Harris on Monday described the frantic moment residents at the complex rushed to help before firefighters arrived.
Mr Harris said he was woken by his partner Francisca Espinoza after the fire alarm went off.
“I went outside and saw smoke billowing out of the windows and there’s a guy standing out the front of the house screaming that there’s a kid inside,” he said.
“So a bunch of neighbours were running around, grabbing hoses, trying to get some water on the fire.
“Some of the guys ran over to the garage, started to rip (the garage door) off, and then a bunch of us went to help him.
“We managed to get the garage door up and out.
“There was too much debris and there was that much smoke coming out – we couldn’t get in.
“We didn’t hear any screaming, only the sound of the fire.
“We started to use a couple hoses to put the fire out, but it was just that ferocious, there was no getting in there.
“At that point, my partner is yelling at me that the motorbike next to me is on fire and the fuel tank is starting to ignite, everyone kind of scattered, ran back, and that is when the firefighters started to arrive.”
The roof of the townhouse collapsed in the inferno, hampering search efforts. Nearby homes were also damaged.
“Tragically, we have located one person deceased inside the premises,” Insp Hahne said.
“One person is still unaccounted for, however we have a strong belief that person is also in the fire scene.”
“Our thoughts go out to the family and to those affected, and certainly for all the residents around here who have seen this unfold, it’s quite a confronting scene.”
Mr Harris said he and his partner are still processing what happened in their street.
“It’s really surreal and it hit pretty hard just seeing a guy yell at you saying that there’s a child inside,” he said.
“The first thing was to try and actually do something about it, but at that point, it was already too late.
“The fire had spread around to the top of the house and it was within a few minutes after that, the roof started caving in.
“If anyone went in there, they probably weren’t going to come back.”
Flowers, notes, and a solemn peace symbol tribute with a lone candle were on Monday placed at the entrance to unit complex.
One note reads “Fly high beautiful girl”, while a second reads “You tried everything you could. To the beautiful girl fly high. You know that everyone loved you. Even though I didn’t know you – you will be deeply missed.”
Police remained on scene on Monday morning, with neighbours praising them for the level of respect they have shown.
Raven’s uncle and aunt Robert Arthur and Christine Mary Rodgers-Falk on Sunday told 9 News: “She loved shopping, loved socialising, she was a very special, very well-loved girl.
“Her nickname was turtle.
“She was very pretty and she lifted us up when we saw her.”
A GoFundMe campaign has been set up by relative Jo Pettigrew to support Raven’s family.
“As many would know Chloe and Matt had a fire go through their town house and tragically took the life of Raven their eight-year-old daughter and close friend Steph,” Ms Pettigrew posted.
“Any donations will go to help them try to rebuild their lives after this terrible tragedy.”
Neighbour Xia Sheng was in her garden about 6.40am when she saw flames creeping out of the kitchen of the neighbouring home.
Ms Sheng jumped into action, throwing buckets of water over the fence.
“I looked up and I saw fire inside the kitchen, I said oh my goodness. I put maybe 20 buckets on the fire,” Ms Sheng said.
“I called for my son, and he ran to the property managers and they alerted (emergency services).”
Another resident, Kylie Spalding, said she heard glass shattering, loud bangs and then smoke.
“It was massive, absolutely ferocious. People were screaming help me, help me (to fight the fire),” she said.
“There was a couple who came from neighbouring houses who tried to rip open the garage door to get inside.”
Queensland Fire Department acting superintendent Andrew Richards described efforts from neighbouring residents and an off-duty firefighter as heroic.
Supt Richards said it took more than an hour to contain the blaze due to its intensity.
Neighbour Ezelle Els on Monday told The Courier-Mail it is good to see the community rallying around each other.
“It is devastating to see that unfold right on your doorstep,” she said.
“Everyone was scrambling to help them, it just happened so quickly, and the fire just consumed everything and then everybody was just running to get away from it.
“The world of today it’s very harsh and dark, so it’s nice to have the community coming together and asking are you okay.
“Just the little words of are you okay means the world at this point.”
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