A major emergency response is underway in the Hawkesbury after a house fire at Bowen Mountain early this morning left two children unaccounted for.
Emergency services were called to a home on Lieutenant Bowen Road just after 2am, finding the two-storey property fully engulfed in flames.
Five people, including one adult and four children managed to escape the burning home. Four of them, including two primary school-aged children, a teenage boy and a man in his 30s, were taken to Nepean Hospital suffering smoke inhalation. All are reported to be in a stable condition.
Firefighters faced dangerous conditions on arrival, with the roof collapsing and flames tearing through the structure. More than 50 firefighters worked for around two hours to bring the blaze under control.
NSW Rural Fire Service Commissioner Trent Curtin said crews were unable to enter the home during the height of the fire due to the extreme risk.
“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.”
The structural damage, including the roof collapse, continues to hamper search efforts, with crews unable to safely access parts of the building.
A crime scene has been established and police have launched an investigation into the circumstances surrounding the fire.
Specialist resources, including drones and a canine detection dog, have been brought in to assist in the search for the missing children now that the fire has been extinguished.
Commissioner Curtin described the incident as confronting for both firefighters and the local community.
“It’s a very close-knit community,” he said.
“[It was] very tough for our firefighters, our local members of the community who responded to support.”
Emergency services remain at the scene as investigations and search efforts continue.
UPDATE
Two bodies found in an extensively fire-damaged home are believed to be that of two unaccounted for children.
Police say six children, aged between three and 16, and their father were home at the time the fire took hold.
"We believe that to be of the two children … it is a coroner's investigation, and we can't confirm those details until a formal investigation has taken place," Hawkesbury Police Area Command's Superintendent Nadine Roberts said.
The family had been due to relocate to Queensland on Monday, with the mother of the children already on her way interstate when the blaze began.
"She's on her way back to be with the family," Superintendent Roberts said.
It comes following a house fire in the foothills of the Blue Mountains in Bowen Mountain.
This is a developing story. Updates will be provided as more information becomes available.
Acknowledgement of Source: ABC News
