A three-year-old boy has died in a house fire in Melbourne's outer west, with his father critically injured while attempting to save him. The blaze broke out at a property on Newbury Street in Werribee just after midnight on Monday.
Emergency services found the single-storey brick home fully alight, and firefighters took around an hour to bring it under control. Inside, they discovered the body of the child, later identified as Jordan Dashwood. His father, Jeremy, 40, suffered severe burns and remains in a coma in hospital. Jordan's mother, Janelle, and his older brother managed to escape the blaze, but two family dogs died.
A GoFundMe page set up by family friend Jardine Jackson described the tragedy: 'In a single night, this family's entire world was reduced to ashes. They did not just lose their home; they lost their precious little boy, their loyal pets, their memories.'
Police said the fire is not being treated as suspicious, but an arson chemist is due to attend the scene. Investigators are reportedly considering whether an e-scooter battery may have sparked the blaze. The property remains cordoned off as forensics teams examine the charred remains.
