An Arcadia mother who stormed into a burning house in blind desperation to save her young daughter trapped inside yesterday described her panicked, but ultimately futile, efforts to save her.
Ronelle Petrus, 31, suffered serious burns to her face and left hand when she tried to pluck her 12-year-old daughter, Desnell Stevens, from the flames.
The distraught mother’s selfless act was sadly in vain, however, as Desnell – an aspirant netball player – died in the tragic incident on Tuesday night.
The bubbly Grade 7 pupil at West End Primary had been due to start exams today, her family said.
There had been nothing they could do to save her, Desnell’s grandmother, Bernadette Hatchies, 55, said sadly.
“We tried very hard to douse the fire, but the flames were just too powerful. And it happened so quickly,” Hatchies said.
“We were watching television in the main house, while Desnell and her younger sister, Desnay, 11, were also watching TV [in the backyard shack].
“All of a sudden Desnay came running inside the house screaming that it was burning. ‘It’s burning! The house is burning!’ she yelled and we jumped up and ran outside to go have a look.”A horror scene met the family outside as they helplessly watched the blaze rip through the four-room structure about a metre away from the main house.
“We could hear Desnell screaming inside it,” the girls’ grandmother said, her eyes filling with tears. “I will never forget that – her screams will haunt me forever.”
Desnell’s mother said minutes before the tragedy her daughters had wanted to watch a comedy movie at a house down the street from where they live.
“They had wanted to watch the movie again because it is funny, so I then went to the house [where the movie was], which is just four houses from here.
“I was barely gone for 10 minutes when my sister came running down the street to tell me my shack was burning and I ran back as fast as I could.
“I was so panicked I wasn’t thinking straight,” Petrus said.
“People tried to stop me when I ran into the yard so I ran inside [the main house’s] front door and out the back door [to access the burning structure].
“I just saw flames. The [shack] had almost completely burned down. I shouted Desnell’s name several times but she didn’t respond,” Petrus said.
“I ran into the flames. I didn’t care because I wanted to save my daughter.”
Petrus was pulled out of harm’s way by neighbours who were helping to extinguish the fire and later taken to hospital.
“Nothing remained [of the shack] except for some [partially burned] photos of Desnell,” Petrus said.
“The family suspect the fire was caused by a blanket which may have fallen over the electric heater that was on inside the 12-year-old’s room.”  
Desnell’s family described her as a wellmannered, confident and straight-talking, funny young girl.
“She was almost obsessed with how her hair looked, sometimes spending up to an hour in front of the mirror,” her mother said with a faint smile.
Her aunt, Sarie Hatchies, said: “She was also really looking forward to going on a netball tour with the school in August. It’s all she could talk about.”
Desnell’s funeral will be on Saturday next week.