A south-east Queensland house fire has claimed the lives of a baby, a toddler and a man, but police have praised a passer-by who saved another young boy from the burning home.
Police say a passing motorist noticed smoke billowing from underneath the eaves of the building in the South Burnett town of Kingaroy and used a chair to break a window to pluck one of the children to safety.
Kingaroy Police Sergeant Ron Reynolds said the passer-by stopped and tried to render assistance while banging on the walls of the public housing home on Kingaroy Street.
"The one male child, about five years old, came to the middle window on the Kingaroy Street side and that child was grabbed out," he said.
"I have to commend their actions. The fire was pretty severe, so to do what they did was courageous on their part."
"Three deaths in this tragic circumstance is very sad and I'm sure the locals will probably mourn this for quite a while."
The ABC has been told the children's distraught mother had been out shopping when the fire started about 1:00pm.
The Queensland Ambulance Service transferred the boy, who was suffering from smoke inhalation, and the woman, who was in shock, to hospital.
No indication on how fire started
Sergeant Reynolds said there was still no indication how the fire started, and officers would work through the night to find clues.
"We have a local scenes of crime officer here but he'll be assisted later in the night by specialist staff from Brisbane and we may even need disaster victim identification to attend to identify the bodies properly," he said.
Police said the family had moved to the town from Cherbourg, about 50 kilometres away, just before Christmas.
Jacinda Osborn, who lives around the corner, saw smoke billowing from the property.
"Big black smoke [was] coming over the rooftops, and then when I came out properly you could see the flames flickering through all the smoke," Ms Osborn said.
"We could hear the ambulance and the firies and everything just around the corner.
"It was quite loud because we are so close."
Police said as per protocol, the fire was being treated as suspicious until deemed otherwise.
State fire investigators have travelled from Brisbane to the scene to try to determine the cause of the blaze.
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