Batlow house fire: Twin three-year-old girls killed in blaze
The mother of twin three-year-old girls was forced to endure the horrific experience of watching them die in a house fire when “12 feet high” flames engulfed their home.
The Wagga News
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A mother tried desperately to save her twin girls who perished in a fire inside the family’s home in the NSW town of Batlow.
Tanyka Ford was outside the home on Mayday Rd on Monday with her five-year-old son but all she could do for her trapped three-year-old twins Aisha and Lailani was cry for help.
Emergency crews forced their way inside the home about 11am while it was still burning and pulled the little girls out unconscious.
They died at the scene, shattering a local family and bringing more sorrow to townsfolk already on their knees from years of drought and devastating bushfires in January.
Police believe a wood fireplace had been burning inside the home.
Carol Flannery, who lived next door when the girls were born, said they were “gorgeous” children and, for the Ford family “the girls were their life”.
“To lose the children when they haven’t had time to live … it’s just devastating,” Ms Flannery said.
“When your kids go, it’s just, you can’t replace them. You really can’t.
“The girls had a tough enough time when they first came into the world, they had to be in Canberra Hospital.
“With the fires and everything else and now this and you just don’t know what’s going to be next.
“It’s horrible.”
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Riverina superintendent Bob Noble said police now faced the grim task of interviewing Ms Ford and her son over what they witnessed as the arson squad was also called in to assist the investigation.
“Two little girls, two little twin girls, can you imagine it? It’s just devastatingly sad that two young lives have been snuffed out like that,” Supt Noble said.
“The mother and the young child that were here at the time will provide information that will be critical to investigators and that’s our starting point.
“But I assure you that won’t be the end point.
“It’s difficult for investigators to interview young children, particularly in an instance where that young child has lost two siblings.”
He said investigators were keeping an “open mind” as they did not know the exact cause of the fire.
“The information that I have is that, yes, there was a small fire burning as there would be on a cold day like this,” Supt Noble said.
One local resident said the “heartbroken” extended family of the victims was well-known around town.
He described watching in horror as the fire roared.
“We saw flames about 12 feet high and we were about 1km away,” the man, who declined to be named, said.
“We’re all a bit gut-busted by it … we just survived a bushfire and drought.
“They’re a fairly big family, they have two or three houses all over this small village.”
A GoFundMe page has been set up by the children’s uncle, Levi Ford, to help their mother and surviving brother “with clothes, food and other things”.
“My sister tragically lost her three-year-old twin daughters in a house fire, which claimed not only the lives of these two young children but also their home and belongings,” Mr Ford said.
“Her son has lost all the belongings including toys and clothing….Losing everything is hard enough without having to worry about financials.
“Anything no matter how small would be appreciated.”