Father, 55, dies in Boyne Island house fire
A father of two girls who tragically died after fire ripped through the family home on Crest Ave, Boyne Island, has been described as a ‘pillar of the community’.
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A father of two girls who tragically died after fire ripped through the family home on Crest Ave, Boyne Island, on August 2 has been described as a “pillar of the community”.
Tributes in the form of flowers, cards and candles have been left at the letterbox of the burnt out two-storey brick home on Crest Ave.
A box of pink and purple flowers simply reads: “We love you dad”.
Sitting atop the letterbox, one of the candles reads: “Billy, Ben here. Love you mate”.
A neighbour, who wished to remain anonymous, told this publication on Monday, August 5, that Bill was raising two daughters at the house.
She said Bill was a “pillar of the community” who “brought everybody together”.
“He was a lovely man,” she said.
“He was amazing.
“He was a very switched-on down-to-earth lovely man.
“He’d do anything, put his hand to anything.
“This street has a lovely little community. He was the glue.”
She said Bill was a “family man” and that his daughters were both devastated.
“(He was) very dedicated to his girls,” she said.
“They were just really happy, laughing and lovely.
“We’re all just in shock.”
The neighbour said she saw smoke through one of her windows and that when she went out other neighbours were already at the house.
“It was just in one room but catching really quickly,” she said.
“It started to explode windows.
“It took ablaze really quickly.”
She said neighbours went around the home and yelled out.
“They went around and looked all inside the back,” she said.
“Nobody could see anybody in there.
“They were all yelling out.
“Nobody thought anybody was home.
“It was devastating.
“I wish I had gone inside, I wish I had gone in the backyard myself, I wish I had looked through the windows.”
She said neighbours got a ladder and rescued a puppy off the balcony.
Neighbours also grabbed hoses to stop the fire from spreading to neighbouring properties, she said.
She said it had been windy that morning and they were concerned their house would have gone up in flames, too.
“We only just managed to stop it from coming across.
“There’s no way we could have contained it, not with the water pressure we’ve got.”
Firefighters had to spend at least two hours from when they arrived at 9am dampening down hotspots before the home was completely extinguished.
A Queensland Police Service spokeswoman said on Monday, August 5, the house fire was not being treated as suspicious, however investigations were continuing.
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