Updated ,first published
Two bodies have been found in a Hawkesbury house that was gutted by fire on Monday morning, hours after five people were taken to hospital with injuries from the blaze.
Two people inside the house were reported missing after they failed to escape the fire that engulfed the two-storey brick house on Lieutenant Bowen Road in Mount Bowen at 2.10am on Monday.
Emergency personnel discovered the two bodies believed to be those of the people whose whereabouts are unknown in the search that began after the fire was contained at four in the morning.
A man and four children escaped the house before it was destroyed, and were hospitalized for smoke inhalation and treatment for burns. Police have established a crime scene in the house, and are working to formally identify the bodies.
More than 50 firefighters faced “extremely dire conditions” when they arrived to find the house engulfed in flames. The fire burned for almost two hours and collapsed the roof and other internal structures. An early assessment showed that the walls could also collapse, prompting emergency workers to leave the site for safety.
NSW Rural Fire Service Commissioner Trent Curtin said parts of the house were still smoldering at 8am, and that drones and dogs would be sent to help with rescue efforts.
Lieutenant Bowen Drive is a long residential street with houses on its west side directly bordering the Blue Mountains.
RFS supervisor Jonathon Hill, one of the first firefighters on the scene, said the initial decision to leave the home was “very difficult”. He said “words cannot describe” the difficulty of the morning.
“It’s a situation you really don’t understand until you’re in it,” Hill said. “We want to help the community, we do what we can. And again, there’s a human side to this that you can’t always explain.”
The fire did not cause any damage to the neighboring houses.
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Daniel Lo Surdo is a budding journalist for The Sydney Morning Herald. He previously headed the national live news blog for The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age.Connect through email address.
