Woman, two boys killed in Queensland house fire, police declare crime scene

The bodies of a woman and two children have been found in the remains of a house that burned to the ground in central Queensland.

Paramedics did not treat anyone at the scene, in the Gladstone suburb of Toolooa, with emergency services called to the Whiting Street house just before 6am.

Five fire crews arrived at the scene shortly after, where they found the house engulfed by flames.

The top storey of the home collapsed, hampering firefighters’ attempts to search the house before the blaze was extinguished about 9am.

The bodies of a woman and two boys were later found in the charred remains of the property.

A crime scene has been declared and an investigator from the Queensland Fire Department will work with police to determine the cause of the blaze.

“Obviously it is a tragic event,” Detective Acting Superintendent Luke Peachey told reporters at the scene.

“At this stage we have not established the identity of those three persons, but we hope to do that as soon as we can.”

Police initially did not rule out finding more victims due to uncertainty over the number of people who resided at the home.

“It’s sort of a little bit iffy at the moment,” Peachey said.

“It seems to be a house that people come and go from. So until we’re able to establish exactly how many people were in that, I won’t speculate.”

Neighbours called emergency services about the blaze after they were reportedly woken up by explosions and what sounded like a thunderstorm.

It may take days to determine the full circumstances of the fire.

“At this stage we are treating it as unknown,” Peachey said.

“Obviously the fire scene is very horrific … and will take some time to go through.

The victims’ families would be supported as authorities tried to piece together what caused the fatal blaze, he added.

“We’d like to pass on our sincere condolences to all those families who are affected,” he said.

“We’ll be working with the families, once we establish who those people are, to try and work out what happened.”

With AAP

Start the day with a summary of the day’s most important and interesting stories, analysis and insights. Sign up for our Morning Edition newsletter.