Pictured: Father killed in horror Emerald house fire who tragically died alongside three children in the blazing inferno: ‘Love you my dad’
Devastated loved ones have broken their silence to pay tribute to a father and three children who were killed in a horror house fire.
Matty Chilly, a teenage girl, and two toddlers aged under two were inside a duplex on Opal Street in Emerald, Central Queensland, when it became engulfed in flames at 6.50am on Thursday.
It took firefighter crews two hours to extinguish the blaze before Mr Chilly and the three children were found inside.
Another two people escaped the fire and were taken to hospital.
Tributes have begun to flow online as heartbroken loved ones come to terms with the tragedy.
‘Fly high my big brother with my nieces,’ Mr Chilly’s sister said.
‘Without a doubt you was always there whenever I needed you the most.
‘I love you for eternity.’
Matty Chilly (pictured) tragically died in a house fire alongside three children on Thursday
Pictured are emergency responders at the scene on Opal Street
Mr Chilly’s daughter said: ‘Love you my dad.’
The Daily Mail understands Mr Chilly’s cousin was living at the property, which is public housing, and all four victims were not full-time residents of the address.
An investigation into the cause of the blaze remains underway, with detectives looking at several possibilities, including an electric scooter battery.
Premier David Crisafulli said that the ‘incredibly sad’ tragedy will impact the wider community.
‘When you deal with smaller towns, there is no doubt that those connections will be felt and the loss will be felt so deeply,’ Crisafulli told reporters.
‘The connections of school and support, community groups. Emergency services personnel… it will ripple through that community.
‘On behalf of everyone, I really want to express my deepest, deepest sympathies to the family, but also the neighbours and emergency services involved.
‘This is an incredible tragedy, an incredible tragedy, and it’s the kind of event that rocks all communities, but particularly smaller communities.’
Emergency services remain at the scene in Opal Street on Thursday
It’s understood the three children killed in the fire included a teen and two infants
The blaze in Emerald is the second deadly house fire within three weeks in Central Queensland
A local posted online that her husband called triple-0 after he spotted the blaze.
‘[He] waited with a mum until help arrived,’ she said.
Maria Beach manages a caravan park on the same street as the blaze.
‘It is a very close knit community. A lot of people know most people,’ she told the Courier Mail.
‘No one knows who this is at the moment. It’s very sad. I’m sure it will affect a lot of people.’
The latest tragedy in the region comes just three weeks after Jordana Johnson, 36, her son Jordan Norris, 13, and his friend Chazz Mather, 12, died in house fire in Toolooa near Gladstone on October 15.
Contessa Leigh Marie Richardson, 37, was later charged with three counts of murder, and two counts of arson.
A combined funeral for Ms Johnson and the two boys will be held next week.
Anyone with information about the Emerald blaze is urged to call Crime Stoppers.
