Fire spread rapidly igniting flammable material in Batlow home

Police have outlined the series of events investigators believe led to the heartbreaking deaths of twin girls Aisha and Lailani Ford in their Batlow home last week after fire ripped through the property.

A post mortem has revealed three-year-old twins Aisha and Lailani Ford died in a tragic inferno that started when they playfully removed a protective grill from the wood fireplace and set light to highly inflammable material in the family home.

Emergency crews pulled the sisters from the burning house at Batlow in the state's Snowy Mountains last Monday but they had succumbed to smoke and were found, holding hands, in the front room.

Their mother Tanyka Ford and six-year-old brother were locked outside when the blaze broke out.

Mother Tanyka Ford has been beating herself up for failing to save her daughters Aisha and Lailani from a fire that ripped through their home in Batlow last Monday

The sisters, aged three, had succumbed to dense smoke. Emergency crews found them cuddling and holding hands in the front room

The Daily Telegraph can reveal Ms Ford, 29, was unable to get into the house through the back door that was forced shut by the sheer ferocity of the blaze which ripped through the home within minutes.

Screaming, she attempted to smash through the front door to get to her crying babies but it was bolted from within.

It is possible the girls dead bolted it from inside and were unable to release the lock.

While investigators continue to keep an open mind, Superintendent Bob Noble warned against "unhelpful" conjecture of foul play.

Ms Ford is receiving counselling to come to terms with the enormity of her loss.

“At this stage it appeared the death of the twins was the result of misadventure, the flames were so strong they blocked the front door shut and Ms Ford was unable to get back inside.

“She had stepped out to remove a burning pillow, it appears, and couldn’t get back in.

“There was highly flammable material in the house, as there are in most houses, and the fire spread quickly.

“It looks like the girls interfered with the fireplace which was the origin of the fire. It is for the coroner’s inquest to determine cause of the death.”

Twins Aisha and Lailani, three, were unable to speak but communicated in a language they both understood.

The Riverina Police Commander said arson detectives had formed strike force Edmondson to investigate “everything” in the circumstances that lead to the fire.

Ms Ford was interviewed last Thursday, and again, on Wednesday.

Arson detectives are investigating the house fire that killed Aisha and Lailani. Picture: David Swift

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“It’s very painful for the mother, as you can imagine, she’s lost two children, she is receiving counselling as a matter of course,” Superintendent Noble said.

“It appears the two young children may have accessed that fire ... kids are inquisitive, especially young children.

"You've got to remain very vigilant but you don't have eyes in the back of your head and you can’t be with them 24/7, you can be as careful as you like but sometimes all it takes is a minute for things to go wrong. That appears to be the tragedy here.”

Geoffrey Dubois the father of Aisha and Lailani, who died in a house fire in Batllow. Picture: Supplied

The girls' bereaved mother has been left traumatised at the loss of her "beautiful babies".

“It happened so quickly, there was a fire … I’ve lost my baby girls, my beautiful babies… it was an accident,” Ms Ford told The Daily Telegraph.
“It all went wrong so quickly. I do not know how to come back from this.”

The twins’ father Geoffrey Dubois has been left scarred by the harrowing sight of a paramedic carrying one of his dead daughters out of the fire.

The girls’ grandmother, Sharon Dubois (obscured in grey shirt), visited the site to lay some flowers after the blaze. Picture: Toby Vue,

“I got the call when I was in town in Tumut and drove like a mad man … I saw firemen and ambulances, I tried to break in but people pulled me away,” the 28-year-old said.
“Then I saw a paramedic carry one of the girls out in a blanket, her foot was charred, she was black.
“That’s was my baby, I think it was Aisha.
“I’m lost, I don’t know what to do, or think, it hasn’t sunk in.”

Originally published as Fire spread rapidly igniting flammable material in Batlow home