Fire horror

By Lia Bichel
HORRIFIC images of twin boys with melted singlets and peeling skin are etched in a good Samaritan’s mind following a tragic explosion in Hampton Park.
Trav Graeske, 24, and his friend Michael Perry tried to evacuate the occupants of a Fordholm Road house before a fireball erupted from the garage about 7pm on Monday night.
Mr Graeske said his main concern was for the safety of twin boys, aged 4, who lived at the house.
“I saw smoke coming out of the garage and knew there were little boys playing there,” he said.
“But by the time I got near the garage it was too hot to go any further. I couldn’t go in. I could hear screaming.”
Mr Graeske said the events that followed were “like something out of a movie.”
“When the boys came out, the clothes were melted into their skin,” he said.
“Multiple layers of skin were peeling off their body. They didn’t look like the same kids. It makes me feel sick. It’s an image I am not going to forget.”
Fellow neighbours poured water on the boys, who didn’t start crying until the shock subsided.
Mr Graeske’s flatmate Tracy Timms also attempted to warn the occupants, and said she was confused about why they didn’t evacuate.
“They may not have understood how bad it was,” she said.
“It was unbelievable. You could see flames coming from the garage for a few minutes, and then there was an explosion. It was a pretty big bang and there was a big fireball. The force caused the garage door to open and fly up.”
Intensive care paramedic David Kervin said the scene was chaotic and very distressing.
He said the father, aged 30, attempted to put the flames on the children’s clothing out with his hands and feet, causing minor burns to himself.
“One of the boys suffered 80 per cent burns to his head, face and across his body and the second boy suffered burns to 50 per cent of his face and body,” Mr Kervin said.
“They were loaded into separate helicopters and flown to the Royal Children’s Hospital in a critical condition.”
The father was taken to Dandenong Hospital in a stable condition and the mother was taken to the Royal Children’s Hospital by road ambulance to be with her children.
Police are investigating the incident.
An Endeavour Hills boy also suffered burns to his body in a separate explosion about 8.20pm on Monday night.
The boy, 13, suffered 20 per cent burns to his face, hands and lower legs after a petrol explosion in Endeavour Hills.
He was taken to the Royal Children’s Hospital in a stable condition.