Five children died in a house fire alongside their father who desperately tried to save them.
34-year-old Wayne Godinet from Queensland, Australia, died along with his three biological children and two stepsons in a horror blaze that took over the family’s home on Todman Street on Sunday morning.
According to the reports, Wayne’s partner, 28-year-old Samantha Stephenson, managed to escape the blaze along with another relative, a 20-year-old female.
While the father-of-five could have escaped the fire unscathed, he allegedly charged into the flames in an attempt to save his children who were left trapped on the second floor.
It is believed that Godinet managed to reach his children on the second floor. By the time he did so, however, the flames had already engulfed most of the house, leaving the dad and his kids with no way out of the building.
Friends and relatives of the family have since spoken out and branded the young man as a hero and a super dad who charged into the flames without a second doubt in hopes he could save his children.
“He was a hero and he would have done everything in his power to get those kids out, so obviously it was impossible,” neighbor Angela Dowson said.
“He was just a doting father who couldn’t wait to get home to play with the kids. He would be absolutely buggered after work and he just wanted to play with them. The whole community is devastated, absolutely shattered.”
Paying a tribute to the family was also friend Peter Macloughlin who said the late children were “great kids” whom he was close to.
Meanwhile, the police confirmed that the blaze was so intense it took the first responders several hours just to put it out.
“Once the fire was extinguished this afternoon by Queensland Fire and Emergency Services an initial examination of the scene located the bodies of six people, believed to be a man and five children,” the police said.
“A port-mortem and scientific examination will take place to confirm the identities of the deceased.”
Our thoughts remain with the Godinet family during this challenging time.