Two children are unaccounted for and a police investigation is underway after a house fire at Bowen Mountain.
Emergency services were called to a home at Lieutenant Bowen Road in the foothills of the Blue Mountains in the Hawkesbury region just after 2am on Monday, where a fire had caused extensive damage.
NSW Police said a total of five people escaped the fire, including two adults and three children.
Firefighters responded to the blaze about 2am on Monday at Bowen Mountain. (ABC News)
NSW Ambulance said four people were transported to Nepean Hospital, including two primary school aged children, a man in his 30s and a teenage boy.
All were in a stable condition and were being treated for smoke inhalation.
The fire has caused extensive damage. (ABC News)
A crime scene was established and an investigation into the circumstances surrounding the fire was ongoing.
The NSW Rural Fire Service said the roof collapse would affect their ability to continue the search safely.
NSW Rural Fire Service Commissioner Trent Curtin said firefighters could not get inside the home and spent two hours getting it under control.
“Firefighters’ dynamic risk assessment would have shown them that it would be too dangerous to go inside the home while it was collapsing,” he said.
“This is a two-storey home, and so it would have been very, very dangerous for firefighters to access the home in the early stages with the home fully engulfed in flames.”
Commissioner Curtin said fire investigators were using drones and a canine detection dog in the search for the two children unaccounted for.
Trent Curtin said it was a challenging circumstance for firefighters on the scene. (ABC News)
He said the family affected by the house fire was being assisted by the local community.
“[It was] very tough for our firefighters, our local members of the community who responded to support … we’ve had more than 50 firefighters here today,” Commissioner Curtin said.
“It’s a very close-knit community.”