Three children dead after allegedly being forced into house fire
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Three children have tragically died in a house fire in Sydney's west, with police allegedly treating the incident as a domestic violence attack.
At 1am on Sunday morning, neighbours raised the alarm after spotting the fire in a family home in the suburb of Lalor Park.
Firefighters arrived on the scene in six minutes to battle what neighbours called an "intense" blaze.
"The flames were shooting out the front window at 20 feet," Brett said.
Two adults and seven young children were inside when the fire broke out, with neighbours saying they were awoken by screaming.
Two boys aged three and six years old were given CPR on the street but could not be revived, and a 10-month-old baby girl was also found dead inside the home.
As rescue crews, emergency services and locals battled to extinguish the powerful flames and rescue those inside, father Dean Heasman was allegedly seen pushing the children back in.
"We're alleging that 28-year-old man took direct actions to prevent the rescue of those young lives that were lost," NSW Police Homicide Squad Superintendent Danny Doherty said.
"We will allege that this 28-year-old man's actions were directly the cause of the death of these three young people."
"We've seen three young lives have just been taken away in the most tragic of circumstances, quite unimaginable how the family is coping with this."
A 29-year-old woman, a nine-year-old girl, and three boys aged four, seven and 11 were also in the house during the blaze, but escaped and were rushed to Westmead hospital.
Neighbours said the surviving children told them the man ordered them to stay inside the home as it burned, one of them claiming he tried to fight in a bid to save his siblings.
"Dad tried to kill us," the child allegedly told rescuers.
Residents claimed they saw the man attempting to drag the terrified children back inside, as they said he was shouting "leave me here to die".
It's understood the man, who was arrested at the scene and remains in a coma with significant injuries, was not previously known to police and had no existing apprehended violence order against him.
NSW Premier Chris Minns labelled the incident "horrifying and senseless" and offered the family support, as an investigation into the cause of the blaze begins.
Image credits: Nine News