Father praises ‘hero’ son for saving parents from deadly fire
A review on the response to the deadly house fire that killed four children will be conducted despite the call for help being answered in 79 seconds.
Victoria
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A heartbroken father who lost four children in a devastating house fire has hailed his eight-year-old son who raised the alarm a “hero”.
Speaking outside The Alfred hospital where he is recovering from burn injuries, Nagmeldin Osman, revealed he had just seconds to escape the inferno after being woken by his son.
“You want to know who the hero is? Ibrahim is the hero, not me,” Mr Osman said.
“If it was not Ibrahim, me and my wife we would be gone as well because I didn’t even have one minute (to respond).
“When I woke up I heard the screaming ‘daddy’... I couldn’t see anything, it was really dark from the smoke.”
Siblings Hamid, 10, Esin, 6, Nadir, 3 and Elin, 1, were killed when the fire tore through the family’s Werribee home about 1am on Sunday.
The father of five revealed three of the children who died had been sleeping inside the same bedroom while his wife and youngest child Elin had been sleeping in another room.
“I ran out to see where the fire was and I didn’t get the chance to get back because I couldn’t see the door,” he said.
“That’s what’s killing me, I could of saved her (Elin) if knew there was a fire... she loved me so much.”
Tragically, Mr Osman said surviving son Ibrahim wanted to die with his brothers and sisters when he found out they weren’t able to escape.
“When he (Ibrahim) knew his siblings were not going to come he said ‘I’m going to go die with them’,” he said.
“He knows I tried everything (to save them).”
Mr Osman desperately attempted to save his children, going back inside the house four times causing facial, arm and body burns.
“I thought I can’t leave my kids and I ran back in... I broke the glass in the backyard to get inside,” he said.
The 44-year-old father said it was a “normal” Saturday night when he went to bed about 11pm and the cause of the fire remained a mystery.
“That’s the thing that’s killing me because I don’t know,” he said.
The Sudanese refugee arrived in Australia in 2003 and said he wanted to extend his gratitude to the wider community who had shown their love to his family.
“I want to say to thank you to everybody supporting me, Australians are very kind people,” he said.
“Physically I’m OK but my heart is burning.”
Holding a relative’s hand outside The Alfred hospital after visiting his dad, Ibrahim recounted his heroic effort.
“I started running through the door, I couldn’t see or breathe, I felt the lock and opened the door and I started yelling at them,” Ibrahim said.
“Then I told my mum and dad to run outside but then they tried to save my big brother but they couldn’t ... also my other siblings.”
“The whole community is proud of him,” added cousin Ramadan Ishreen.
“He saved mum and dad and himself.”
Speaking from outside The Alfred hospital on Tuesday, Nagmeldin Osman said firefighters were very late.
“More than half an hour (to) 45 minutes we waited for the fire (department) to come and it’s night-time,” he said.
“If it’s daytime I accept it can be traffic ... they were very, very late.
“They are not far from my house, even just seven minutes (away).”
“I don’t want this to happen to anyone else,” he added.
It is understood that the Emergency Services Telecommunications Authority will conduct a thorough review of its response to the case, but that the call for help was answered in 79 seconds.
It is understood it then took 63 seconds from the call being answered to firefighters being dispatched.
The CFA on Tuesday confirmed that its crews had responded to the fire in less than the standard time of eight minutes.
“More than 30 CFA firefighters with support from FRV firefighters battled the fire,” a spokesperson said.
“Firefighters worked under very challenging conditions and had to attack the fire externally due to its intensity.
“Our thoughts are with the family and the first responders during this difficult and tragic time.”
Mr Osman desperately attempted to save his children, going back inside the house four times which caused facial, arm and body burns.
“I thought I can’t leave my kids, and I ran back in ... I broke the glass in the backyard to get inside,” he said.
The 44-year-old father said it was a “normal” Saturday night when he went to bed about 11pm and the cause of the fire remained a mystery.
“That’s the thing that’s killing me because I don’t know,” he said.
The Sudanese refugee arrived in Australia in 2003 and said he wanted to extend his gratitude to the wider community who had shown their love to his family.
“I want to say to thank you to everybody supporting me, Australians are very kind people,” he said.
“Physically I’m OK, but my heart is burning.”
‘WE’LL ALL BE HERE FOR THEM’
Neighbour Greeta Deagan on Tuesday said she visited the property regularly to help process the grief but believed the street “would never be the same”.
“People are so caring around here, reaching out to offer support but I am struggling to understand this, I need time,” she said.
“The last two nights when it gets dark I get scared and overwhelmed, I see flashbacks to the burning flames and the screaming kid.”
“There’s been a lot of tears among the neighbours, I think a lot of us will need counselling.”
She said it was “heartwarming” to see dozens of people come to pay their respects every day, and how the community had reacted to the tragedy.
“So much has been raised to help the family, the community has really come together in a time of need, there’s still humanity in the world.”
“People that didn’t even know the family are visiting with tears in their eyes, I hope the Osmans know when they get out we’ll all be here for them — anything they need.”
A local mother came to drop off four teddy bears and recite a prayer for the lost children.
“I didn’t know them but I came to pay my respects,” she said.
“It’s such an awful thing to happen and so close to home.”
“I have a 10-year-old son, I can’t even imagine what they’re going through.”
She left a card expressing her sympathy and wrote “rest in paradise little ones”.
“Everyone is just devastated by this loss. It’s good to see how many people have come to pay a tribute.”
“We’re praying for them in the hospital.”
Anndora and her daughter, Annira, hung a T-shirt from Manor Lakes College, where Annira went to school with the Osman family children.
“I’m just so emotional, they would attend the study group with my girl,” Anndora said.
“They were beautiful children.”
PSP property manager Clarke Liu came to inspect the neighbour’s house for damage.
“The fire is just tragic and leaves so many questions — how could this happen?”
He said the property, while not managed by PSP, was part of a development and built in the last seven or eight years.
‘TRIBUTES FOR LITTLE ANGELS’
Friends and strangers have paid tribute to the family, laying flowers and children’s toys along with cards that read: “Rest in peace little angels”, “Respect love and thoughts be with you all” and “Fly high little angels”.
Family daycare worker Marie Pisua was overcome with grief as she knelt and sobbed holding onto temporary fencing at the site.
Ms Pisua last saw some of the children on Friday.
“They were very happy,” she said.
“Oh, they were perfect kids. I liked them, they liked me. They played with their toys.”
Friend Yvette comforted Ms Pisua as she laid flowers.
“She just hopes they are OK and are in a good place,” Yvette said.
Devastated family friend Sadam Ibrahim visited the scene on Monday afternoon, holding a pink flower box.
He sat in front of a ute parked outside the family’s home, clearly heartbroken by the tragedy.
“We are family friends … we helped them move into their house,” an emotional Mr Ibrahim said.
“It’s very sad, especially the kids. I’ve known the dad for three years.
A family friend who didn’t want to be named cried as she approached the house.
“She is a good mum,” the woman said as she wiped away tears. “I’m a mother and a mother loves their child.”
SES crews arrived about 2pm, knocking on the doors of neighbours and offering grief support to those who had witnessed the inferno.
Heartbroken relatives say they were “destroyed” by the tragedy.
“With more sorrow and sadness, we mourn (our family) in the fire accident,” the children’s uncle Moomin Osman posted online.
“Give them patience and give us patience for their separation, and quick recovery to the injured.”
The Osman family on Monday afternoon thanked the community for its ongoing support as they continue to grieve for the four young children.
“We’d like to thank our friends and the broader community for all their generosity and well wishes shared over the past 24 hours,” the family said in a statement.
“As you can appreciate, this is an incredibly distressing time for us, and we ask that our family’s space and privacy is respected as we grieve.
“At this stage we won’t be making any further comment.”
DAD’S PANICKED SCREAMS
Shocked neighbours reported hearing the father screaming “‘save my children”, as more than 30 firefighters battled the blaze on Mantello Dve.
It is believed Mr Osman immigrated to Australia from Sudan in the early 2000s.
Next-door neighbour Geeta Deagan, who has lived in the area for six years, said Mr Osman knocked on her door on Sunday night after his house had become engulfed in flames.
“He banged on our door … (and said) to my husband, ‘my kids are dead, my kids are dead,’ ” she said.
Ms Deagan said Ibrahim was screaming throughout the terrifying ordeal and said Mrs Osman had struggled to come to terms with the tragedy.
“(She) came to me and said, ‘they are not going to come back … my four kids died, I’m not a good mum, I’m not a good mum,’ ” she said.
“I just gave her a hug … there was nothing she could do.”
Authorities said the home was well alight when firefighters arrived, and the house was “completely destroyed” when the roof collapsed during their efforts, impeding rescuers from entering.
The cause of the fire is under investigation and arson squad detectives were sifting through the scene on Sunday afternoon.
COMMUNITY EMBRACES GRIEVING FAMILY
A crowdfunding campaign had raised more than $272,000 by Tuesday morning, which will be used to cover the cost of funerals and “everything that was lost in the fire”.
Donations will be used to cover the cost of funerals and “everything that was lost in the fire”.
“With the loss of children and their home we are hoping to alleviate some of the stress this has caused, bring them some support and return the love they have so easily shown others throughout their life while dealing with this devastating loss and rebuilding,” organiser Fathi Ahmed said.
More than a dozen distressed relatives gathered outside The Alfred in Prahran on Sunday after Mr Osman called his sister and a friend, asking them to come to the hospital.
The shocked relatives were visibly distressed as they embraced outside the hospital.
Ibrahim, who sustained minor injuries in the blaze, walked out of the hospital with his uncle and was hugged by tearful relatives before being driven away shortly after 1pm.
Mr Osman’s sister, Hala, said the tragedy was “too hard to take”.
“It has broken my heart,’’ she said.
“I’m destroyed at the moment. I can’t believe it.
“We don’t know what happened. We are Muslim and we believe in God. We know everything is written. But this is too hard to take.”
A friend at the hospital said they did not know how the fire started.
“We don’t know what happened,” he said. “I got the call at eight o’clock this morning that something had happened.
“I was told four children had died in a fire at the house.
“It happened when they were sleeping.”
An elder from Melbourne’s Sudanese community was helping those gathered at the hospital to deal with their grief.
Relatives, however, were restricted from entering the hospital together because of Covid.
Wyndham mayor Peter Maynard said his thoughts were with the family.
“Our condolences go out to the family,” he said. “We will be doing what we can.”
Neighbour Richard Carlesso described the fire as a “raging inferno”.
“It was a terrible, terrible sight to see,” he said. “I just hope they find out the reason and it was a pure accident. Not that that’s going to help parents who have lost children … I’m a father and how you move on from that, I don’t know.”
Mourners visited the property on Sunday night, crying and saying prayers for the four lost children.
Transport Infrastructure Minister Jacinta Allan on Monday said the children’s deaths were heartbreaking.
“I express my personal sympathy to the family,” she said.
“This is such a deeply distressing circumstance.”
Ms Allan said the government was waiting for the full result of investigation into the blaze, amid some reports on delays calling triple-0.
“It is appropriate to let the appropriate investigations take place as to what happened over the weekend,” she said.
“The government has already commissioned a review (into ESTA) that was announced some time ago.
“Graham Ashton will report into the new year as to how we can strengthen the role ESTA plays on serving our community.”
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