Toddler dead in Werribee house fire, dad seriously injured in desperate rescue bid

A three-year-old boy has died and his father – who tried to save him – is in hospital with serious burns after a house fire in Melbourne’s west.

The toddler, Jordan Dashwood, is being remembered as a “cheeky, beautiful” boy, as firefighters and police continue to comb through the burnt-out property in Werribee to determine the fire’s cause.

Jordan was at home with his parents and a sibling in the Newbury Street house at about midnight when the fire broke out.

Jordan’s father Jeremy Dashwood, 39, reportedly smashed a window to get back into the house to try to save his son, but came out again with his clothes on fire.

His 11-year-old brother escaped through a window. Two older siblings were not at home at the time.

The family’s dogs were also killed, according to a crowdfunding page set up to raise money for the boy’s funeral and temporary accommodation for his relatives.

Emergency services arrived within three minutes of being called to the single-storey brick veneer house on fire, with reports that multiple children were trapped inside.

Assistant chief fire officer Anthony Pearce said firefighters discovered Jordan’s body after extinguishing the blaze, having initially believed all the people inside had self-evacuated by the time they arrived to fight the fire.

“It was a very chaotic … quite tragic scene,” Pearce said. “Firefighters were able to complete a search later on, and that’s when it appears they found the deceased.”

Pearce said it was too early to tell what room the fire started in or what started it.

On Monday morning, large holes on both sides of the house revealed blackened timber beams within. A toy Nerf gun rested next to the property’s front fence, which now has police tape over it.

The boy’s mother and grandmother gathered in the aftermath of the fire at a neighbouring house, and were comforted by visiting family and friends throughout the morning.

Among them was family friend Bianca Mizzi, who pulled Dashwood’s grandmother into a teary hug upon meeting her at the front gate. Mizzi said she felt sick thinking about what had happened.

“[Jordan] was so beautiful, but so cheeky,” she said. “When he was little, I used to love to cuddle him, but he wouldn’t have a bar of it. He was like ‘you’re my friend from afar’.”

Mizzi said she found out about the fire from the VicEmergency app, and then drove by the house at 3am to confirm her worst fears. It was another two hours before her family found out what had happened to Jordan and his father.

“I felt so sick, just tears instantly,” she said.

A Newbury Street resident, Thang Zanniat, who lives across the road from the family, said he was woken in the middle of the night by a series of loud bangs.

“I checked out my window, there was fire out the left and the right sides [of the house], big flames,” he said.

Zanniat said an ambulance was already on scene when he went outside, but no fire trucks had arrived yet. He said he then tried to help by opening a gate at the front of the property, but the family couldn’t get out that way.

Zanniat said he also pointed his front yard garden hose at the flames, but it was unable to reach the distance to the fire.

“The lady was saying ‘My baby’s inside’,” he said. “I feel really upset, I really wanted to help, but I couldn’t do anything.”

Zanniat said a man emerged from the property with his clothes burning. Paramedics said the man, who is Jordan’s father, is now in the Alfred Hospital in a serious but stable condition with upper and lower body injuries.

Police say the fire is not being treated as suspicious. Anyone with information has been urged to contact CrimeStoppers on 1800 333 000.

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