Vic: Two boys perish in house fire after lighter triggers blaze

AAP General News (Australia)
12-22-2007
Vic: Two boys perish in house fire after lighter triggers blaze

By Julie Tullberg and Michelle Draper

MELBOURNE, Dec 22 AAP - Two brothers aged five and two died in a house fire in Melbourne's
west early today after one of them was found playing with a gas lighter.

Three other children, two women and a man escaped the inferno that engulfed the brick
veneer home within minutes after the blaze erupted about 6.15am (AEDT), police said.

But for the frantic rescue efforts of a quick-thinking neighbour, Simon Tanti, the
toll would have been higher.

The 38-year-old Mr Tanti broke into the burning, smoke-filled house and carried to
safety a three year-old sister of the dead boys.

Police named the victims as Connor Murphy, aged 5, and his two-year-old brother Logan.

Mr Tanti said he was first alerted by a commotion next door about 6.20am (AEDT) and
went to investigate what he thought might have been a domestic dispute.

Confronted by thick smoke smoke pouring from the house, he told his wife to call emergency
services and take their own five children to safety while he tried to see what he could
do.

Family members from the burning house, who had escaped into the back yard, told Mr
Tanti two children were still inside the blazing house.

Mr Tanti, wearing only shorts and runners, grabbed a rake, smashed a front bedroom
window, ripped out the curtains and climbed into the bedroom.

He said he was virtually blinded by choking smoke but managed to find three-year-old
Phoebe by prodding around with the rake.

"I couldn't see any flames.... it was very dark and black," he said.

"Because I couldn't see flames, which is a good sign, I just rummaged around and found
a child on a bed.

"I just couldn't see. The smoke was black, acrid smoke."

Mr Tanti carried Phoebe out through the front window and laid her on the ground.

"She was barely breathing, although she did come good," Mr Tanti said, adding the child
was taken to the Royal Children's Hospital.

"The family, who moved in around 14 months ago, just kept saying, there are other kids
in the house.

"But by then the house was too far gone to even contemplate it (re-entering)."

Connor and Logan's seven-year-old brother, Keenan, who escaped with minor injuries,
was reportedly recovering in the Royal Children's Hospital.

The 26-year-old single mother of the four children was also admitted to the same same hospital.

The two other adults and a seven-month-old baby boy were treated for smoke inhalation.

The boy's aunty, Sandra Barnes, who escaped unscathed with the seven month old boy,
was devastated.

"The boys had a lot of things going for them," Ms Barnes told the Nine Network.

"They were looking forward to Christmas.

"We tried go back but we couldn't. The house just went up too quickly."

Mr Tanti dismissed any suggestion of him being a "hero".

"I'd like to think if it happened to me, that the next bloke would do the same thing."

A police statement this evening said the fire started about 6.15am after a child was
found playing with a gas lighter,

AAP jat/it/de

KEYWORD: FIRE 2ND NIGHTLEAD

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