Overview
- Police confirmed the victims include siblings Maddison, 20 months, and Desmond, 5 months, a 36-year-old man identified as Mathew Chilly, and a teenage girl who has not been publicly named.
- Emergency crews were called to the Opal Street home just before 7 a.m. and found the property fully engulfed before locating four bodies inside.
- Two occupants escaped and were taken to hospital to be treated primarily for psychological distress, with authorities declining to detail their relationships.
- A major investigation is underway with specialist fire and police units on scene, and an e-scooter is among several lines of inquiry into the cause.
- Local leaders offered condolences as residents laid tributes and a family fundraiser began, with the tragedy drawing comparisons to last month’s multi-fatal house fire in Gladstone.