Two children are missing after a fierce fire engulfed a two-storey home on Lieutenant Bowen Road in Bowen Mountain, Hawkesbury, during the early hours of Saturday, April 27, 2026. Emergency services were alerted just after 2 am, arriving to find the property "fully engulfed in flames." A significant response involving over 50 firefighters battled the blaze for approximately two hours before bringing it under control.
While five individuals – two adults and three children – managed to escape the burning structure, efforts to locate the two missing children are ongoing. Authorities have described the situation as a "complex and careful search" of the severely damaged property. NSW Rural Fire Service Commissioner Trent Curtin indicated that parts of the house were still smouldering by 8 am, necessitating the deployment of drones and dogs to aid in the search. The roof and internal structures of the home reportedly collapsed during the incident, complicating access for firefighters.
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Ongoing Search and Investigation
Emergency services remained on scene throughout the morning. The extent of the damage is described as "extensive," with firefighters unable to enter the home initially due to the intensity of the fire. The full circumstances surrounding the fire and the disappearance of the children are now subject to an ongoing investigation.
Background
Fires have impacted the Hawkesbury region previously. In August 2025, a major blaze occurred at a construction site on Devcore Place de la Station, spreading to a nearby multi-unit residential building on Higginson Street. Separately, in November 2025, a fire ravaged a subsidized housing complex on Portelance Avenue in Hawkesbury, Ontario, leaving some tenants displaced and without homes for over two months, with temporary accommodation solutions proving difficult. Another incident in February 2024 involved a townhouse blaze in Teralba, Newcastle, where two residents were also unaccounted for.
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