Neighbour tried to save young boy trapped in fatal public housing blaze - The Age

A neighbour ran into a burning building to try to save a young boy after fire engulfed a third-storey apartment at a Fitzroy North public housing building on Saturday.

Kevin Georgiadis, 52, heard screaming outside the Nicholson St building just after midday and rushed outside his own building to find a woman carrying a newborn telling a crowd of onlookers that another boy was still inside her flat.

A child has died after a fire at a low-rise housing commission building on Saturday.Credit:Joe Armao

"She said, 'the baby’s up there'... I thought, 'how come no one’s going up?' It didn’t look that bad," he said.

"When I got in there it was just black. As soon as I got in there, [the fire] started to pop off … I went in as far as the kitchen and the lounge room. I couldn’t go any further."

Mr Georgiadis, who suffers from emphysema, said he then ran back downstairs because he was struggling with smoke inhalation.

“I couldn’t breathe and I couldn’t see," he said.

As he got to the bottom of the stairs, firefighters arrived. "I said [to the firefighters], 'don’t talk to anyone else, just run straight upstairs, there’s a baby up there'. And he did, he ran straight up," he said.

Shortly afterwards, a firefighter was seen sprinting from the smoking building with the boy in his arms and took him to a waiting ambulance. The boy died soon after in hospital.

The low-rise public housing building, at the corner of Nicholson St and Clauscen St, is now a crime scene.

Residents, many of them elderly, were forced to flee soon after midday after the third-storey apartment erupted in flames.

Paramedics treated at least one person for smoke inhalation.Credit:Joe Armao

Firefighters were on scene four minutes after the alarm was raised. They also rescued a man from an upper-storey window ledge, who was calling for help as firefighters searched the rest of the building for trapped residents.

The man was brought down to ground level using a nine metre ladder. No one else was injured.

A local shopkeeper, who did not wish to be named, said he saw the firefighter sprint from the burning building with a young child of about four years of age.

A 25-year-old was also treated for smoke inhalation.

Residents were forced to flee the building after the third-storey apartment blaze.Credit:Joe Armao

Assistant chief fire officer Costa Katsikis, who attended the scene, praised the efforts and quick actions of responding crews.

“The work our firefighters did here today was outstanding, and they should be proud of their efforts,” Mr Katsikis said.

“They put their training into action and I commend them on their excellent response."

More than 35 firefighters brought the fire under control within 20 minutes. The cause of the fire is not yet known. Police are investigating.

Witnesses drawn to the scene by the wailing sirens and thick smoke had their personal details taken for contact tracing purposes before they were asked to disperse.

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2020-08-15 07:42:00Z
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