Four-year-old twin girls die in fire near Byron Bay
Police suspect a candle left to burn was to blame for the deaths of the two four-year-olds, found on a multi-occupancy community in northern NSW.
A lit candle on top of a piano is thought to have caused the death of four-year-old twins at a Byron Bay commune.
Full details are still to emerge but emergency services responded to reports that two children were suffering smoke inhalation at a single-story property in Goonengerry, just after 4am on Sunday.
The property is 30km west of Byron Bay and not far from the Goonengerry public school .
Local officers, NSW Ambulance personnel and the fire brigade were called and treated the young girls at the scene with CPR but they could not be revived.
An investigation is under way, with police speculating that a candle left burning on a piano began to smoulder, rendering a toxic fume that caused the girls to suffocate.
Tweed Byron Police District Commander Superintendent Dave Roptell on Sunday said the arson squad had been called in and the property had been labelled a crime scene.
They were suggestions from locals that a party had been going on nearby as the incident occurred.
“There were people present in a close proximity to where the incident occurred,” Superintendent Roptell confirmed.
“The people at the scene went in to check and saw what they saw and police were called.
“We’re making further inquiries into who actually identified the situation in the first instance.”
He also confirmed that the piano had been in the same room as the sleeping girls.
“They were fairly close to it, to the piano,” he said.
“It was smoke inhalation that appears to be the cause of why these two young people died.”
The girls, who police say were locals of Goonengerry, were reportedly visiting their father at the multiple-occupancy community property.
Superintendent Roptell said he believed a joint custody arrangement was in place between the children’s father and mother.
Emergency services may have faced some issues with the speed of their response caused by the property’s remote location, he said. “It’s one of those areas that is hard to get to,” Superintendent Roptell said.
It is understood no structural damage occurred although there is smoke damage to the property.
Neighbours delivered flowers to the front of the property on Sunday as a show of respect and sympathy. “No words. Mourning with you,” read one note attached to a bouquet left in the mailbox.
Twin four-year-old girls have died after a fire inside a home west of Byron Bay this morning. https://t.co/18V5Y6VeP2
— NSW Police Force (@nswpolice) November 6, 2021
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