Police allege dad stopped rescue of children killed in Sydney fire

A father allegedly dragged some of his seven children back inside their burning western Sydney home as neighbours and firefighters tried to save them from the flames, telling them to ‘Let me die here’.

The fire’s aftermath, left; Dean Heasman, above; the house ablaze.

A father allegedly dragged some of his seven children back inside their burning western Sydney home as neighbours and firefighters tried to save them from the flames, telling them to “Let me die here”.

Police will allege 28-year-old father Dean Heasman, who was in a decade-long de facto relationship with the children’s mother, Stacey Gammage, 29, was responsible for lighting the fire that killed three of the children – two boys aged three and six, and a 10-month-old baby.

The surviving children, three boys aged four, seven and 11 and a nine-year-old girl, were treated at the home at Lalor Park before being taken to hospital in a stable condition. Ms Gammage is also in hos­pital and being treated for smoke inhalation.

Dean Heasman and his partner. Picture: Facebook

A surviving child allegedly told rescuers “(Dad) tried to kill us” as he emerged from the home alongside his father.

Homicide Squad boss Detective Superintendent Danny Doherty said police were treating the fire as a “domestic (violence)-­related multiple homicide”.

“At this stage it does appear the 28-year-old is responsible for multiple deaths of young lives that have been tragically taken away,” Superintendent Doherty said on Sunday. “We’re alleging the 28-year-old man took actions to prevent the young people inside being rescued.”

NSW Police Force Acting Superintendent Jason Pietruszka said the man also allegedly tried to stop officers rescuing the children.

Jarrod Hawkins, the man who went into the home in an attempt to save residents holds his child. Picture: NewsWire / Simon Bullard

“I can confirm during police attempts to get into the property, those efforts were frustrated by a male inside. He’s been arrested.”

Hero neighbour Jarrod Hawkins ran into the burning building and pulled a number of children out, but not before he allegedly tussled with the father, who wanted to keep everyone, including himself, inside the house.

Mr Hawkins was wary of speaking to media but confirmed he was the one who ran inside.

“I heard a loud pop and sprinted over,” he said. “I heard the kids yelling inside and panicked.”

At the mention of being a hero, he said: “I didn’t do it for that.”

Neighbour Damien Dubois was awoken by windows cracking and helped to shepherd the kids on to his yard, wrapping them in a blanket. “One of the kids, the eldest, came out with his father. When he came over, he had burns on both hands and both arms.”

He said the child told rescuers: “He tried to kill me. I nearly died.”

Neighbour Damien Dubois wrapped the kids in blanket as they emerged from the burning house.

Mr Dubois said the two younger kids “weren’t really saying anything … We took them inside, so they were out of the way of all this trauma.”

Another neighbour, Raymond Gardiner, grabbed a fire-­extinguisher and ran towards the house after seeing the flames from his window. He said he didn’t see the fire until about five minutes after it had started, and it was already “too big at that point to go inside”.

Mr Hawkins had just emerged from the house with three kids, and Mr Gardiner said “he saved those kids’ life”.

“I just heard Jarrod coughing … He said there were other kids inside. I started yelling for them to get out, to follow my voice,” he said.

Brett Carroll, a friend of Mr Heasman, said he had walked with him and the kids to school on Thursday morning and he seemed “a bit down” but not enough to cause alarm. “He didn’t seem his happy self,” he said.

Friend Brett Carroll speaks to media.

“It’s way out of character for this bloke … I think he cracked.”

Mr Heasman was sedated at hospital before staff realised he had suffered internal injuries from smoke inhalation. He is in an induced coma and it is unclear when he will be charged.

Fire and Rescue NSW found the body of a 10-month-old girl inside the house after they extinguished the fire.

There was no apprehended violence order in place against the father, police say, and the man was “not adversely known” to police, nor was he before the court for any other matters.

“These types of matters are just devastating. These are tragic circumstances,” Superintendent Doherty said. “These are really extraordinary circumstances.

“We hope the community comes together, galvanises and helps the family.

“There’s more good than bad in the world. Tragedy usually brings out the best in people.”

Superintendent Pietruszka said the mother and the other children were expected to make a full recovery. “It’s devastating there’s no other word for it. It’s devastating for the community, the other kids who go to school with the children,” he said.

Emergency services personnel at the home in Freeman Street, Lalor Park. Picture: NewsWire / Simon Bullard

Neighbours and police were “quite heroic” trying to get into the house, he said, and the actions of a neighbour saved more lives from being lost.

Emergency services were called to the home about 1am on Sunday. “Going to a house fire, you’re always expecting the worst, hoping it won’t be but this was confronting, absolute chaos,” NSW Fire and Rescue Superintendent Adam Dewberry said.

“They commenced firefighting operations, got in and did that search, got those two children out, handed them over to paramedics who then continued with that emergency medical treatment.”

Emergency services personnel at the Lalor Park home. Picture: NewsWire / Simon Bullard

He said crews faced “superheated” conditions, with the likely temperature in the home between 600C and 700C. “They can’t see … they’re getting through under extreme, superheated conditions, while looking for those children,” he said.

“There was heavy fire activity, the flames venting out through both front windows, getting up over the roof line,” he said.

Superintendent Doherty said the investigation would take some time.

“At the moment, it’s early in the investigation,” he said.

“Homicide squad detectives … will have a lot to do today and ongoing weeks in relation to putting together what happened.”