Two dead, others fighting for life after Heckenberg house fire

A neighbour has remembered her close friend Veronica Carmady as a loving mother who died attempting to save her daughter Aurora from an inferno that ripped through their south west Sydney home on Wednesday.

A neighbour has remembered her close friend Veronica Carmady as a loving mother who died attempting to save her daughter Aurora from an inferno that ripped through their south west Sydney home on Wednesday.

“She ran back in and didn’t make it back out’.

The neighbour said Aurora had just started kindergarten and was the “happiest girl in the world” who “brightened up the darkest day”.

The horrific blaze left two others are fighting for life. Ms Carmady, 46, and Aurora, six, died when their single storey home on St Johns Rd in Heckenberg caught alight early on Wednesday morning — while eight others who were inside the home at the time managing to escape.

NSW Fire and Rescue Superintendent Adam Dewberry said two people remained in a critical condition and revealed that even though the police were on the scene within minutes, the flames had already taken hold of the single-level fibro home.

Firefighters attempted to enter through a back window but were forced back when “the room went to flashover,” where thick, oily smoke turned to flames.

Tragedy... Little Aurora who died with her mother Veronica Carmady on Wednesday morning. Pic Supplied.

Veronica Carmody and her daughter, Aurora, were killed in the Heckenberg fire.

Two people have died and another two are fighting for life in hospital. Picture: Nine

“The home was totally engulfed in fire, and there was nothing anyone could do, despite the best efforts and the fast response,” Supt Dewberry said to Ben Fordham on 2GB.

“Our fire investigators are on scene working with police forensics. They’ll go through the home, but this home is completely gutted, it’s been completely destroyed.

“It’s actually just a shell of itself, so they’re sifting through to have a look at where and how this fire actually started.”

Four firetrucks with 16 firefighters were called to the scene. It took crews about 90 minutes to extinguish the fire.

On Wednesday morning, a neighbour recounted how his father used a ladder to smash a window and get into the home to help the family.

Jaykay Moon Jr said his dad, Jaykay Moon Sr, was washing up after dinner when he heard one of the parents “screaming that their kids were still inside”.

Mr Moon Sr ran to the back of the home and smashed a back window with a ladder to help an older man, believed to be a grandfather, who was inside.

The house was destroyed by the flames. Picture: Supplied

Mr Moon’s mother, Tiari Moon, said the elderly man had most of his body burned.

“They grabbed one little girl and couldn’t find the other one,” Mr Moon Jr said.

Mrs Moon, who also rushed down the road to help, said she was overwhelmed with emotion when she could hear “the little girls screaming”.

Fire and Rescue NSW Commissioner Jeremy Fewtrell described the house fire as “absolutely heartbreaking” and a tragedy that has sent “a massive ripple through the whole community.”

“It’s completely devastating to have a young girl with a whole life ahead of her and a young woman in the prime of her life taken away,” he said on 2GB.

Commissioner Fewtrell said firefighters arrived within five minutes of the Triple Zero call, but the house was already fully engulfed in flames.

“A police officer arrived a couple of minutes before our fire crew, and he said he wasn’t able to get close because the fire had engulfed the whole building.”

He also urged the public to check their smoke alarms, stressing their life-saving importance.

“If people can check their smoke alarms, we recommend changing them every 10 years. If you can’t do it yourself or can’t afford it, contact your local fire station — our crews will come down and help.”

A woman and a child have died in a house fire in Sydney’s south west overnight. Picture: Nine

FRNSW expert fire investigators and NSW Police are currently on scene working through the ruins trying to determine how and why the fire started.

The Heckenberg blaze was the second fatal fire in two days, after a man was killed at Guildford on Tuesday morning.

That man — a food delivery rider — was unable to escape when his Rowley Rd home caught alight just before 5am.

Fire and Rescue NSW investigators looking into the Guildford blaze said early indications were “an incompatible charger was powering the e-bike battery in the bedroom at the time of the fire”.

“The food delivery bike itself was found outside the home,” the statement read.

“The Fire Investigators believe the battery was unable to absorb the energy generated by the charger and overheated, likely causing the fire.”

In addition to one of the fires being caused by e-bike batteries, it is also believed neither had working fire alarms.

More to come

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Originally published as Two dead, others fighting for life after Heckenberg house fire