Port Hedland fire: Neighbour Jess reveals she tried to save kids in fatal Pilbara house fire

A Port Hedland woman has described the intense moment she and her son tried to rescue three young children from a fatal house fire that left the close-knit Pilbara town in mourning. The siblings, a 10-year-old girl, a seven-year-old boy and a five-month-old boy, were all killed in a fire on Anderson Street that was believed to be deliberately lit on Tuesday afternoon. Neighbour Jess told 7NEWS of her attempts to rescue the children from inside the home but was pushed back by the inferno. “We had to get out the smoke was too much, you could feel the heat and everything was cracking around us,” she said. The neighbour said how she then tried to gain entry to the back of the house with her son. “I took my singlet off, I got one of the gentlemen to wet it, wrap it around my head and I tried to go through the back way to see if I could see if anyone was in the halls or in the bedrooms, we couldn’t get through that way,” she said. Jess, who had arrived home from work moments before the blaze, said she thought it was dust pluming from the house until realising it was smoke. “(The mother) she just seemed so cool, calm and collected at the time and oblivious to what was going around her,” she said. “She just said her babies were in there and she didn’t really react like what you think a person would be reacting when the house is on fire and knowing fully well that your family is inside.” Police have arrested the mother of the children, who has sought medical attention and is assisting police with their investigation, headed by the homicide squad. The tragedy has left the tight-knit Pilbara town in mourning, with people attending the scene to lay flowers and teddy bears.