Lily St, Wetherill Park house fire: Emergency services respond to blaze, two confirmed dead

A woman, 75, who died in a fatal house fire in Sydney’s southwest along with her 81-year-old husband has been described by neighbours as a “lovely” and “sweet” lady.

Sonia Arispe tragically died in the house fire at Wetherill Park.

A woman who died in a fatal house fire in Sydney’s southwest has been described by neighbours as “lovely” and “sweet” and always eager for a chat.

About 6.45am on Wednesday, emergency services were called to Lily St, Wetherill Park where they found a house on fire.

Emergency crews managed to remove two people from the house, an 81-year-old man and a 75-year-old woman, however, they could not be revived.

The woman has since been identified as Sonia Arispe, who is being remembered as a sweet woman with a beautiful smile, and her husband.

One neighbour, Nazil Buksh said his family fondly called the couple “aunty and uncle” and they would be greatly missed.

Sonia Arispe and her husband died in a house fire at Wetherill Park.

“They were a lovely couple always with their grandkids … unfortunately disaster has happened and we lost good family members,” he said.

Mr Buksh said he had known the couple for 18 years and was told his neighbour tried to get into the home but there was “very heavy smoke”.

Nazil Buksh mourned the loss of the elderly couple on Lily St who he called aunty and uncle.

He said the community is mourning the loss as they are all “very close”.

“We stick together as a family. If there’s something I need, all my neighbours are willing to help,” Mr Buksh said.

Another neighbour Sabrina, 39, had lived behind the couple for 16 years and said their families were close friends.

“Once you talk to her (Sonia) the conversation goes on for so long. She was always so lovely.”

Police acting superintendent Dean Johnstone. Picture: Kirsten Jelinek

Sabrina said she called triple-0 when she started to hear glass cracking.

“I could hear the glass breaking and I woke up and opened my bathroom window and I saw flames,” she said. “It’s so sad because they were such nice people … we are a very close knit community.”

Officers attached to Fairfield City Police Area Command have set up a crime scene, which will be forensically examined by officers and Fire and Rescue NSW investigators.

NSW Police superintendent Dean Johnstone said the elderly residents both had medical issues that “played a part in the unfortunate circumstances”.

Police have confirmed two people have died.

Two of the neighbours, two men aged 57 and 55, made “valiant attempts” to rescue the couple.

“But their attempts were made in vain … one was taken to hospital and I am told he is doing well and [it] was done as a precaution,” Supt Johnstone said.

He said the cause of the fire remained unknown and fire investigators and police would work together.

Fairfield police will speak with neighbours and prepare a report for the coroner.

A family are seen comforting each other after the tragedy. Picture: Kirsten Jelinek

Neighbour Josephine, who has lived next to the elderly couple for two months, said the woman was a lovely lady, but she had not met the husband as he was very ill.

“She was a very sweet, humble lady who loved to have a chat. Always full of beautiful words and a big beautiful smile,” she said.

Josephine woke about 6.45am to the sounds of sirens and the smell of smoke.

“I looked outside and saw fire and saw a lot of smoke – thick smoke,” she said.

Josephine said Sonia had recently done renovations downstairs, including installing a shower as they “can’t go upstairs anymore”.

“They had just come back after staying with the son for a week,” she said.

“She just came back yesterday … it’s all very sad.”

Acting Commissioner for FRNSW Megan Stiffler.

Josephine says the woman who died in the fatal house fire was lovely and kind. The fire claimed two lives on July 12.

FRNSW acting commissioner Megan Stiffler said the incident was the sixth fire-related death in NSW and was a “tragic reminder” on the dangers of the winter seasons.

“It does not appear active smoke detectors were in the home, none were sounding when crews arrived,” she said.

Acting commissioner Stiffler said every door and window had security and the couple were found on the ground floor “indicating they tried to make an exit”.

“The home had a strong level of security and crews had to break through the screen,” she said. “The message can’t be stronger about how dangerous this fire was.”

As inquiries continue, police would like to speak with anyone who maybe have been in the area or who has information that can assist.

Neighbours place flowers on the front lawn of the home to pay their respects to the family.

Frankie Rea (right) and Rocco Rea (left) wrote a letter and bought flowers for the family.

Frankie, 6, Rocco, 5 and mum Belinda Rea – who live at Wetherill Park – delivered flowers and a handwritten note for the family.

While they didn’t know the couple, Belinda said her children wanted to pay their respects to the family.


“The reason they wanted to bring flowers is because they thought it would be nice for the family to see that other families care,” she said.

When she heard the “sad news”, the mum-of-two bought flowers with her children and a card that said: “May you Rest In Peace forever, love Frankie and Rocco”.

“Frankie drew praying hands on the letter and Rocco wrote “I’m praying for you”,” she said.

\She said the tragedy highlighted the importance of smoke alarms, especially for the safety of her children.

“We’re quite diligent with checking our smoke detectors and heaters but you just never know,” she said.