Toddlers’ deaths in house fire a ‘preventable’ tragedy

A toy falling on a heater sparked the house fire which killed two toddlers in an “entirely preventable” tragedy. A coroner has slammed a failure to tighten smoke alarm laws which could have saved the girls.

Flowers at the scene of the house fire that killed Saba and Sana Qorbani. Picture: Alison Wynd

The deaths of two toddlers in a Geelong house fire would have been prevented if landlords faced charges for failing to ensure rented homes had working smoke detectors, a coroner says.

An inquest has found two-year-old Sana Qorbani and her one-year-old sister Saba Qorbani died from smoke inhalation when their East Geelong house caught fire on September 13 last year.

Their six-month-old sister, who was sleeping in a different room, survived.

The findings, released on Tuesday, showed the fire started when a toy fell onto a heater.

The home the family was renting had a battery-powered smoke alarm when they first signed their rental agreement in 2015, but the inquest found it was removed from the house “some time before the fire”.

Coroner Rosemary Carlin described the children’s deaths as “tragic and, sadly, entirely preventable”.

A woman lays flowers at the scene of the fatal house fire in East Geelong. Picture: Alison Wynd

In her recommendations, she said laws need to be clearer on whether landlords or tenants were responsible for routine checks on smoke alarms.

Ms Carlin recommended landlords be required to conduct annual inspections of smoke detectors in rental properties and that all buildings have hardwired smoke detectors, regardless of when they were built.

Under Victorian law, hardwired smoke alarms with a battery back-up must be installed in all buildings constructed after August 1, 1997.

Buildings constructed before that can have a battery-powered smoke alarm.

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The latest coronial recommendations echo calls made in an earlier inquest into the deaths of three Indian students in a house fire in Footscray in January 2008.

Ms Carlin said it was unfortunate the previous recommendations had not been followed, with the similarity in the cases showing how current legislation continued to put lives at risk.

She said more information resources about smoke detectors were needed for people from non-English speaking backgrounds.

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