Overview

• Emergency services were called just before 6am to Whiting Street in Gladstone’s Toolooa suburb after neighbours reported the blaze.
• Firefighters arrived to find the two-storey home fully alight and deployed six crews to bring the fire under control about an hour later.
• A partial structural collapse delayed safe entry and primary searches, and crews later located three bodies within the charred remains.
• Detectives say the identities of the deceased have not been established and family notifications are underway.
• Authorities expect examinations to take days as police and fire investigators work to determine how the blaze started.