‘I’m no hero’: Man who saved children from inferno tells of horror night

A neighbour who charged into a burning house in western Sydney to save four children says he is not a hero and was only following his instincts.

Jarrod Hawkins said he knew his daughter’s school friend was inside the Lalor Park house, which was engulfed in flames when he reached it about 1am on Sunday before anyone else arrived.

Jarrod Hawkins, who rescued four children from the burning house in Lalor Park.Credit: Dean Sewell

“The front door was locked, but I kept shoulder-barging it until I smashed it in,” he said. “There was too much smoke, I couldn’t see a thing, but I knew the daughter was inside.”

He said he followed the sound of a child’s cough through the blinding smoke and grabbed a girl and carried her out on to the footpath, before re-entering the Freeman Street house three more times to rescue three of her brothers.

The four children sat on the footpath in shock after his rescue efforts, he said, one of them screaming for their parents, whom Hawkins also then helped emergency services pull from the house.

Three other children died as result of the fire – two boys aged 3 and 6, who died in hospital, and a 10-month old baby girl whose body was found when the flames were extinguished.

Emergency services personnel at the house on Monday morning.Credit: Kate Geraghty

The children’s father allegedly set the house on fire after attacking his de facto partner and tried to barricade his family inside as it burnt, dragging them back in as neighbours and first responders tried to save them.

The 28-year-old man was arrested and remains in an induced coma under police guard in Westmead Hospital.

A nine-year-old girl and three boys, aged four, seven and 11, were taken to Westmead Hospital in a stable condition, along with their mother. No members of the family can be identified for legal reasons.

Hawkins, who lives across the road from the blackened home, said he jumped up and ran outside when he heard strange noises on Sunday morning.

Candle and flower tributes have been placed around a power pole in Freeman Street, Lalor Park, for the three children killed in an alleged domestic homicide.Credit: Kate Geraghty

He said police and firefighters arrived after he had saved four of the children. With two detectives, Hawkins rushed to the back of the house and helped drag the adults outside, who were lying on the ground.

Emergency services then took over the rescue. Hawkins escaped with cuts to his feet from broken glass. Neighbours called him a hero and credited him with saving the lives of four children.

“I don’t buy into that ... I just reacted with what I could do,” he said.

But his partner disagreed.

“He definitely is a hero,” she said. “No one else would have done that.”

Police have been speaking to the friends and neighbours of the affected family to gain an insight into the father’s behaviour over the past few weeks as they try to determine how and why he allegedly turned to murder with few warning signs.

“He seemed very chaotic,” one friend of the family said of an interaction he had with the father last week. “Very angry, upset.”

The man, who did not want to be named, recalled seeing the father struggling to get his children’s lunch and schoolbags organised as he took them to school.

He said the father seemed overwhelmed and frustrated by the domestic work of raising seven children.

Neighbours said the couple had been fighting, particularly following the birth of their youngest child last year.

“They weren’t close to their own families and were doing it tough, quite isolated,” the friend said.

Sources say one of the children pulled from the home told rescuers their father had attacked their mother during a fight late on Saturday night, before torching the bedroom.

More flower tributes at Freeman Street after the house fire and a photo of the couple.Credit: Kate Geraghty, Supplied

A neighbour also claimed the father had been driving “erratically” down the street in the people-mover vehicle that remained parked outside the burnt home on Sunday.

It’s not known who made a call to police last week that prompted officers to carry out a welfare check on the family.

The family told police they did not need assistance, police sources said.

The welfare check, police said, appears to be the only recent interaction with officers and the only sign something was amiss on Freeman Street.

The father’s legal history is years old and related to tax and traffic, according to documents seen by this masthead.

More than a dozen flower bouquets were perched around a power pole opposite the home on Monday.

NSW Fire and Rescue investigate inside the burnt-out home in Lalor Park.Credit: Kate Geraghty

Three candles sat in a line featuring photos and captions of “Saint Charbel” and “St Michael the Archangel”. One note read “May you rest in peace sweet innocent children. You are all in our hearts & thoughts.”

On Monday morning, the 29-year-old mother remained in a stable condition. Sources not authorised to speak publicly said she was aware of what had happened to her children, although she had been sedated.

The father remained in an induced coma under police guard, having been treated for burns and smoke inhalation.

One neighbour who did not want to be named for privacy reasons said the father didn’t say much, but often looked “angry” and would regularly stand on the front yard, staring out into the distance and wearing shorts on cold winter nights.

“He looked angry and white like a ghost,” he said, adding he would pay the father to mow his lawn but he “never said much and just took the money”. He said he had heard the occasional fight at the home, but most of the time the family were “quiet and kept to themselves”.

Police sources said one of the children allegedly told rescuers “dad tried to kill us” as he allegedly attempted to drag some of them back into the home as they ran for their lives.

Premier Chris Minns said the “horrifying and senseless act” would leave a “deep wound” in the state of NSW.

“These children deserved a loving home with safety and security, and instead, they’re gone.”

If you or someone you know is affected by sexual assault, domestic or family violence, call 1800RESPECT on 1800 737 732.

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