An autistic boy has tragically died after falling asleep next to an indoor heater that set his pillow alight.
Jack Bajric, 16, was killed in a horror house fire in Cessnock in the NSW Hunter Valley on Sunday night.
Firefighters pulled Jack from the burning home but he died at the scene, despite emergency responders’ desperate attempts to revive the teen.
Authorities believe that the pillow Jack had been lying on in front of the heater in the living room while trying to keep warm had suddenly caught fire while he was asleep.
Firefighters also suspect that there were no working fire alarm inside the home.
Jack’s little sister Tylah, nine, was also inside when the family home went up in flames but escaped with the help of a teenage friend.
The tragedy has sparked an outpouring of tributes for Jack.
‘Hope you run wild up there,’ a harrowing note outside the gutted home states.
‘You will be missed.
‘Didn’t deserve to go out like this.’
A family member told 9News that he was ‘a gorgeous boy with a great big smile’.
Jack Bajric, 16, died after falling asleep in front of an indoor heater in his family home on Alkira Avenue in Cessnock, in NSW’s Hunter Valley region, at 10pm on Sunday
Emergency crews were able to pull him out of the house but were unable to revive him and he died on the front lawn
She added that Jack’s death had been ‘overwhelming and devastating’.
‘He was a happy, bubbly little soul and loved life and absolutely loved the water,’ she said.
Jack’s mother arrived at the house afterwards to learn that her son had died and she was comforted by neighbours who had raced to the scene and tried to help.
‘Members of the public were trying to help but there were a lot of flames exiting the house,’ Duty Commander of Fire and Rescue James Downey said.
Temperatures had dropped to 3C by the time the house had set alight.
