Emergency services at the scene of the Russell Island house fire. The blaze killed a father and five children. Photograph: Russell Freeman/AAPEmergency services at the scene of the Russell Island house fire. The blaze killed a father and five children. Photograph: Russell Freeman/AAPMother flagged faulty smoke alarms before house fire that killed father and five children, court hears Pre-inquest conference into Queensland deaths hears witnesses did not hear any smoke alarms during 2023 fire
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A landlord was repeatedly warned about improperly installed smoke alarms before a house fire that killed a father and five children in Queensland in 2023, a coroner has heard.
Deputy state coroner Donald MacKenzie held a pre-inquest conference into the Russell Island deaths on Tuesday.
No witness recalls hearing the sound of an alarm during the blaze, it heard.
The owner was fined $774 for improper installation in 2024, the maximum possible penalty under Queensland law. A conviction was not recorded.
The fire in the two-storey wooden Queenslander broke out on 6 August 2023. The house had been moved to the island and then renovated in 2013 before being rented privately.
Five children – two brothers aged four and others aged three, 10 and 11 – died in the blaze. Their father, 34, died after running into the fire to rescue them. None can be identified for legal reasons.
The children’s mother and father had fallen asleep in a converted “chill out” area underneath the house.
The father awoke to see thick black smoke and immediately raced upstairs, where the children were sleeping.
Sign up for the Breaking News Australia emailHis partner also tried to get into the house, but was forced back by the fire. Another adult woman leapt off a balcony to safety and survived.
The Queensland fire department does not have a station on Russell Island, and vehicles must be ferried over in an emergency, a process that takes about 45-60 minutes, the court heard.
As a result, it was a paramedic who first arrived at the scene, arriving within minutes at about 6.26am.
“He recalls that the fire’s heat was so intense that he could feel it through his vehicle window, and could see the flames coming from the roof and smoke in a mushroom formation,” counsel assisting Corinne Leach told the court.
“[The children’s mother] was kneeling on the ground in complete distress with [the other woman] beside her. He asked if anyone else was inside, to which [the mother} replied: her five children, and lost all ability to communicate.”
The paramedic also tried to get into the building but was halted by the intense blaze. He instead focused on evacuating neighbouring homes. Rural firefighters arrived at 6.35am.
The court heard the home had poor wiring, an exposed electrical box and faulty power points, known to short out. It also had an extension cord running from a poorly operating power point in a child’s bedroom, from a double adapter, to the understory area.
The home’s smoke alarms also had not been updated in compliance with 2017 laws that applied to any tenancy renewed after January 2022 imposing additional safety measures for alarms.
The homeowner claimed not to have been aware of the legislative change, the court heard.
“[The mother] says that she raised the issue of non-working smoke alarms with the home’s owner, but nothing was done about it,” Leach told the court.
“No witness recalls hearing a smoke alarm sounding at all prior or during the fire.”
MacKenzie has been tasked with investigating seven issues, including whether legally installed fire alarms might have prevented the deaths, and whether the emergency service response to the fire was adequate.
He will also consider whether the presence of any additional emergency service resources located on the island could have prevented the deaths.
Fire investigators have been unable to identify the cause of the blaze, and could not categorically rule out that it was lit deliberately, the court heard.
The inquest has been listed to sit for 10 days in November, to hear from 16 witnesses.
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