Police believe two children died after a house fire in the foothills of the Blue Mountains, as investigators said the blaze was not being treated as suspicious and would now go to the coroner.
Officers said four children and one adult male were inside the house when the fire broke out. Two children were unaccounted for before police located bodies they believe are those of the missing pair. The father and the four children were taken to Penrith Hospital, where they were being treated for smoke inhalation and minor burns.
Police said they would put together the brief of evidence for the coroner, who will determine the time, date, place and cause of death. The mother was on her way home from Queensland to be with the family. That is the immediate path of the investigation: not a criminal case, but a coronial one, with the key unanswered facts now in the hands of the coroner.
The release sat alongside unrelated material about Queensland politics and a marathon record, a reminder that the news cycle can pile tragedy, policy and sport into the same stream. In Queensland, the Liberal National Party led by David Crisafulli won government in 2024, renewable energy targets were repealed, and rumours of a coal-friendly energy plan later materialised in late 2025. Separately, Kenyan Sabastian Sawe broke the two-hour marathon barrier.
But the Blue Mountains fire is the story that matters now. Police say they do not suspect foul play, and the coroner will decide what happened in the house, where four children and one adult male were inside before two of the children were found dead.
