Two children dead in Wodberry house fire, The Australian, March 2005.

Annabelle McDonald

John Stapleton

THEY were ``just loveable little boys'' it was said of two children who died in a house fire in the Hunter Valley suburb of Woodberry north of Sydney yesterday morning.

The Housing Commission home, which was completely gutted, was well ablaze when fire fighters arrived at 7.30am, shortly after receiving a number of 000 calls.

A neighbour and friend of the family said: ``The boys were yelling out, mum, mum, from inside the house. Their mother said, get to the window boys, get to the bathroom window. And then the screaming stopped and there was nothing.''

Neighbours said the two were good boys, but cheeky, and would often climb out the bathroom window to go and play around the neighbourhood. They said a wall collapsed on the pair, preventing them from making their escape.

Fire fighters donned breathing apparatus and pulled Mathew Davies, 9 and Shane Davies, 6, out of the back of the burning house. Ambulance officers were unable to revive them.

Their mother Lyn Andrews and three other siblings, Kelly-Ann, who turned 13 this week, Brian, 12 and Lewis, 2, were taken to Maitland Hospital suffering from smoke inhalation. They were later discharged.

Shane was to have celebrated his seventh birthday this Saturday. He was known as the quiet one. Mathew was known as more flamboyant, but both were regarded as inseparable.

Their distressed father, who had not been living with the family in recent times, would only give his name as ``Pommy'' Davies. When asked how he was coping he said: ``You have no idea. I wasn't here at the time. I raced over but...it's bad, it's bad.''

Students and teachers at the local Woodberry Public School were counselled. ``It is very subdued here,'' said Principal Pat White. ``The two boys were really well liked by their peers. They were just loveable little boys. We are all very upset. I spoke to every class this morning to let them know the official news that the boys had died. We are obviously devestated.''

A friend of the pair Michael Amos, 14, said: ``They were hilarious kids. Just looking at them you would laugh, they were so full of energy.''

Another neighbour, Jamie Baxter, 14, said the boys got trapped in the bathroom. ``They tried wetting a blanket and sticking it over themselves but the wall caved in. We were going to have a party at the house on Saturday.''

Lower Hunter Police Commander Superintendent Charles Haggett said entry to the house had been made as quickly as possible but the children were already deceased. He said the situation was extremely traumatic for the family but also distressing to emergency crews. He said on the back of the recent murder-suicide of the Winter family, where it was believed the mother shot her husband and two young children, yesterday's incident was traumatic for the entire community.

A Department of Housing spokesman said there were two fire alarms hard-wired into ceiling of the house and there was no indication the alarms had malfunctioned.