Father concerned children were being left home alone before massive house fire

The father of a three-year-old boy hospitalised after a massive house fire in suburban Melbourne had been increasingly concerned his son was being left alone with his siblings while the children’s mother went out.

Jayde Petalas said his son Kalais’ condition had improved on Tuesday after the three-year-old and his sisters – five-year-old Izabel and 21-month-old Lyvia – were pulled from a home in Fergus Court, Sydenham, in Melbourne’s north-west on Sunday night.

Jayde Petalas and stepdaughter Izabel, who was hospitalised after the Sydenham house fire.

Police are investigating whether the children were home alone when the blaze broke out.

All three children remained in a critical condition at the Royal Children’s Hospital on Tuesday afternoon.

Petalas, who does not live with the children, said he was angry about the fire and had not gleaned much information from police about their investigation.

He said he had been concerned the children were being left alone in recent months while their mother, Shania Lee, went out.

Police called Petalas on Sunday night to notify him of the fire and let him know the children had been taken to hospital, he said.

Petalas said Kalais was initially meant to be in an induced coma for five days while swelling in his lungs and throat went down but that was changed to 2½ days.

Doctors were expected to look at Kalais’ lungs on Wednesday, he said.

“Apparently he was nowhere near as bad as he could have been. He’s tried to wake himself up three times already. He’s a fighter.”

Izabel (left) and Kalais eating fish and chips.

The fire shocked the quiet neighbourhood. Many residents had believed no one was inside when the blaze broke out at the recently sold single-storey brick property.

Many heard bangs or explosions – one resident, Debbie Zuccala, described the sounds as “like a bomb” – and rushed out to the road to see what the commotion was and called emergency services.

Firefighters pulled out the three children, who were found unconscious at the front of the house, just after 9.30pm.

Police believe the fire may have burnt for up to 30 minutes before emergency services were able to retrieve the siblings.

Izabel and her mother, Shania Lee.

The children’s mother was at the hospital on Monday, police said.

Detective Acting Inspector Adam Henry, from the arson and explosives squad, said on Monday that the mother and her three children moved into the house last week.

Henry said arson chemists were still working on the cause of the blaze but believed it started at the rear of the house.

“At this stage it’s too early to say whether the fire is suspicious or not, and it’s important we don’t pre-empt any possible outcomes or make any assumptions,” he said.

Emergency services workers at the house on Monday, following the fire the previous night.Credit: Joe Armao

He was unable to clarify whether the mother or someone else was at home with her children at the time of the fire.

Police spoke briefly to Lee, who was “understandably quite distressed”, and investigators would formally speak to her again, Henry said.

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