A man has been rushed to hospital with ‘significant’ burns to his upper body after trying to save his elderly mother from a horror house fire which claimed her life.
Multiple emergency crews rushed to the Kathleen St property in Sarina south of Mackay in central Queensland about 4.25pm on Sunday to find the two storey home fully engulfed in flames.
It’s understood the blaze was sparked by an oil spill in the kitchen, which ignited the entire second floor before it quickly engulfed the rest of the home.
Neighbours were alerted to the sound of windows exploding and quickly raced outside.
Several attempted to extinguish the flames with garden hoses until fire crews arrived.
‘Thankfully the first floor is a concrete floor so there was nothing to ignite down there but the entire upper floor is drywall, timber and asbestos which still burns but once it got going there was no real stopping it from that point,’ Timothy Parker told the Courier Mail.
He added that emergency service arrived on scene ‘damn quickly’.
The body of the 71-year-old woman was found inside the gutted home after the fire was extinguished.
Fire crews were called to a house fire in Sarina near Mackay on Sunday (stock image)
The fire tragically claimed the life of a 71-year-old woman. Pictured is the home
The woman’s son suffered ‘significant’ burns to his hands while trying to battle the blaze and save his mother.
‘We did as much as we could,’ Mr Parker said.
The injured man aged in his 40s was taken to Mackay Hospital.
Two firefighters were also transported to hospital with minor injuries.
A fire investigator is expected to attend the scene on Monday.
‘A crime scene has been declared, and investigations into the cause of the fire are ongoing,’ a police statement read.
Anyone with information has been urged to contact Crime Stoppers.
The home was last sold for $203,000 in 2009, according to real estate data.
