Mother dies after unit fire which killed her son
A woman has died in hospital days after being critically injured in a unit which killed her three-year-old son south of Brisbane.
Crystal Cartledge had been in hospital since neighbours rescued her from her burning Beenleigh unit on Sunday night.
Queensland police confirmed on Tuesday afternoon the woman, 30, died in the Royal Brisbane and Women’s Hospital.
Her three-year-old son, Baileigh, died in the fire, while the boy’s father and siblings, aged one and five, suffered minor injuries.
A fundraising effort was launched to help pay for the boy’s funeral.
‘High rate of fires in Logan’
Logan House Fire Network (LHFN) founder Louie Naumovski said the area had been hit hard by house fires in recent months.
“When a little three-year-old boy loses his life it certainly touches a lot of people’s hearts, so we are unfortunately calling upon the public again to assist us with another tragic loss of life,” he said.
Authorities are still investigating the cause of a unit blaze that killed a toddler and his mother. Photo: ABC
Back in May, the LHFN supported the family of a two-year-old who died on his birthday in a house fire at Beenleigh.
Belinda Warwick and four of her children, aged between one and five, managed to escape their weatherboard house, but her son Roman was in the back of the home and could not be reached in time.
“We only went through that about four months ago in Beenleigh also, probably about a kilometre away,” Mr Naumovski said.
Mr Naumovski said the LHFN has attended 24 house fires in Logan this year.
“Our statistics are showing us that we’ve certainly got a high rate of fires here; we’re talking to the Government, we’re talking to emergency services obviously to implement some changes,” he said.
“We want people to take make sure there homes are safe, make sure you’ve got your working photoelectric smoke alarm in, make sure you’ve got a well-rehearsed fire evacuation plan so we don’t go through such tragic events.”
Authorities are investigating the cause of the blaze.
