Celebrity chef fighting for life after fatal house fire

A man, understood to be celebrity chef Matt Golinski, has been flown to hospital in a critical condition after a house fire on the Sunshine Coast which claimed the lives of four people.

The victims of the early morning fire are believed to be Mr Golinksi’s wife Rachel and his three daughters – Sage, Willow and Starlia.

Neighbours on Jacaranda Place in Tewantin told reporters they woke to the sound of screams about 3.30am and found a badly burned man lying outside his home, with the blaze too intense to attempt a rescue.

The house was completely destroyed by the fire.

Mr Golinski is a well known and popular personality on the Sunshine Coast, having worked as the executive chef at the renowned restaurant Ricky Ricardo’s in Noosa before starting his own catering company.

He also featured on Network Ten’s cooking show, Ready, Steady, Cook.

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He was flown to Royal Brisbane Hospital after the early morning fire with third-degree burns to 40 per cent of his body.

His youngest children, 12-year-old twin girls Sage and Willow, were born with a rare metabolic disorder, similar to Cerebral Palsy, which required intensive physical therapy to help them walk.

The police service said four people had died in the blaze but it was yet to officially confirm their identities.

Fifteen firefighters worked for more than an hour to bring the blaze under control this morning.

A neighbour told Sky News of how he woke to screams coming from the house.

“First thing I heard was a lot of people screaming and yelling,” he said.

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“I spoke to the neighbours and they said they could hear the mother yelling ‘help me, help me’”.

The neighbour told reporters there was not a part of Mr Golinski’s body which did not appear to have been burnt and that he had suffered “incredible pain” trying to save his family.

ABC News quoted a neighbour saying the man who was taken to hospital was found on the driveway, “burnt from head to toe”.

In a statement, the Department of Community Services said the man, thought to be in his 40s, was taken to Noosa Hospital in a critical condition.

He was later transferred to Nambour General Hospital and has since been flown to Brisbane.

Seven News reporter Jennifer Nichols told Sky News the community was in an “incredible sense of shock” following the overnight fire and neighbours who heard screams were asking what more they could have done.

“People just can’t believe that this has happened,” Nichols said.

The fire was believed to be too fierce for anyone to get close, with neighbours telling reporters the injured man had tried everything he could to get his family out of the house.

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