WARNING: Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander readers are advised this story contains images of persons who have died.
A house fire has claimed four lives including two children in a catastrophe the state’s premier says will “send ripples through an entire community”.
Emergency services arrived within five minutes of the blaze erupting before 7am on Thursday in the Queensland town of Emerald, about 270km west of Rockhampton.
Two other people had escaped the fire and were outside the home as neighbours attempted to contain the flames with garden hoses.
Two toddlers, five-month-old Desmond and his sister Maddison, aged one year and eight months, were killed in the fire, Queensland Police Senior Sergeant Peter McFarlane confirmed.
Their father Jake was in Toowoomba for medical treatment at the time of the fire.
The other victims were family friend Mathew Chilly, 36, and a teenage girl.
The two people who escaped the fire, one of whom is believed to be the children’s mother, were taken to hospital “more with psychological than physical injuries”, the local sergeant said.
Read the full story here.
The youngest victims of the Emerald house fire, 20-month-old Maddison and five-month-old Desmond. Credit: 7NEWS
Mathew Chilly was also killed in the blaze. Credit: 7NEWS