After learning of the tragic death of a three-year-old boy last night in a fire at his Beenleigh home, we are once again reminded to keep our families as safe as possible.

The blaze, which saw the unit go up in flames just before 10pm, has left the boy’s parents fighting for life in the Royal Brisbane Hospital. Two children, a girl, 1 and a boy, 4 are also being treated in hospital for smoke inhalation and are in a stable condition.

Screams form the family alerted neighbours to the blaze, who were first on the scene to frantically help the family. When fire fighters arrived they were able to contain the fire to the unit before it spread to neighbouring properties, police reported.

The origin of the fire is unknown. The unit is being treated as a crime scene, and answers will take a long time coming. It is unknown what role smoke detectors played in the incident. Did working smoke detectors help prevent further deaths, or did lack of them hinder the time it took the family to become aware of the danger?

It’s a question none of us ever want to be asking ourselves. And we don’t need to, but we do need to use the question surrounding last night’s tragedy to trigger awareness of the safety of our own family. Have we done everything in our home to protect us from a fire? Do our smoke alarms work? Do we have a fire safety plan? Please if you do anything today; make sure you are prepared for a fire. Don’t let the loss of that little boy be in vain.

Feature Picture Photo Credit: www.heraldsun.com.au