Mother died trying to save her daughter from horror Sydney house fire

A mother has died after she ran back inside her burning home in an attempt to save her daughter’s life, only for the pair to become trapped as fire “completely gutted” a home in Sydney’s southwest.

About 12.40am on Wednesday, neighbours on St Johns Road in Heckenberg woke to screams as multiple adults and children tried to escape the burning home.

Veronica Carmady and her six-year-old daughter died in the blaze.Credit: Facebook

Neighbours jumped into action to try to save the five adults and five children inside the home as flames darted from the windows. Tia Moon, who lives nearby, said her husband smashed a window to help some of the children and adults escape.

The mother, Veronica Carmady, had managed to escape when she realised her children were still inside the home, neighbours said. She was seen going back inside the burning house multiple times in an attempt to save her daughter before she became trapped.

“Then the screaming stopped,” Moon said. She said her husband Jaykay helped to get a three-year-old child out of the fire.

The bodies of Carmady and her six-year-old daughter were discovered by firefighters a short time later.

“I just can’t believe this is happening,” Carmady’s sister-in-law, Di Thompson, told Seven News.

“She’s a hero going back in there to save her baby.”

Eight people had managed to escape – four children and four adults – as firefighters were confronted with “thick, oily smoke” billowing from the windows.

“There was nothing we could do, the fire had already taken hold with flames venting out the front windows,” Fire and Rescue NSW superintendent Adam Dewberry said on 2GB.

Neighbours and friends told the Herald the family had friends staying with them at the time of the blaze.

A two-year-old girl was taken to Westmead Hospital, where she remains in a critical condition, and a 50-year-old man is at Concord Hospital after suffering burns to his airway.

A 14-year-old girl was taken to Liverpool Hospital. Those who managed to escape the blaze were treated by paramedics at the scene.

The home is now a crime scene with police and firefighters investigating the cause of the fire.

“This home is completely gutted, it’s absolutely been destroyed. Fire ripped through the home,” Dewberry said.

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

The Heckenberg home was destroyed in the fire. Credit: Kate Geraghty

Lucia Swainston, who lives two houses down from the scene, said she woke to screams.

“I noticed that the whole palm tree and everything was on fire, and then, it spread up to the side of the house, and there was a grass fire by itself,” she said.

Swainston said an older man, believed to be the child’s grandfather, came running from the home.

“They had burns … cuts or something over his hand. I tried to ask him if he was OK. He wasn’t really responding to me, really in shock, didn’t want any help or assistance at all.”

Neighbour Lucia Swainston helped a man escape as flames engulfed the homeCredit: Kate Geraghty

A friend of the family, who did not want to be named, said she and Carmady had been close for many years.

“She died saving her [daughter], let everyone out, and didn’t make it out herself,” she said.

She said the six-year-old girl had just started kindergarten, and was “so excited about it”.

“[She was] the happiest girl in the world, she’d brighten up the darkest days.”

Fire and Rescue NSW commissioner Jeremy Fewtrell said the cause of the blaze was unknown, but likely started near the back of the home.

Fewtrell said a large amount of foam furniture and plastic household objects helped the fire to spread quickly.

“It’s a very timely reminder about the importance of smoke alarms in people’s homes,” he said.

A report will be prepared for the coroner.

The fatal fire comes just a day after a man was killed in a house fire in Guildford. Fire and Rescue NSW believe an e-bike battery left on charge was the cause of that fire.

An incompatible charger was used to charge the battery of a food delivery bike, firefighters said. A man died at the scene.

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