A father and his two young sons killed in an outback toxic fume tragedy had made the basement of their backyard tin shed their home so they could rent out their house.
The mining city of Broken Hill, in the far west of New South Wales, is in mourning after the tragedy, which began when a petrol generator in the shed caused Layne Harvey, 44, to collapse on Thursday afternoon.
His son Kurtis, 16, who was in a caravan in the backyard, rushed inside after hearing his mother Cherie frantically scream for help.
Cherie raised the alarm after noticing her husband was unconscious, the Harvey family’s elderly neighbour Margaret Graham told Daily Mail Australia.
Layne Harvey, 44, (right) and his two sons Kurtis, 16, (left) and Jakeb, 23, (second from left) all tragically died in their backyard shed after suffering from carbon monoxide
Teenagers have sorrowfully been laying flowers in the red dirt against the corrugated iron fence of the yard, which is cordoned off with police tape
A shocked community have placed flowers outside the yard where a man and his two sons tragically died from carbon monoxide fumes
A father and his two young sons were killed in an outback toxic fume tragedy in the basement of their backyard tin shed which they had made their home so they could rent out their house
Cherie Harvey had barely made it out of the four-metre deep cellar and shed to alert her sons when she too was overcome by the toxic carbon-monoxide fumes.
Kurtis’s older brother Jakeb, a 23-year-old electrician, had also bravely rushed in to try to save his stricken dad.
Another resident who lives nearby said he had heard Cherie Harvey scream after she had noticed her husband and two sons had been overcome by fumes from the petrol generator inside the shed.
‘It was just an eerie feeling coming from that place,’ the man who declined to be named, told Daily Mail Australia on Friday afternoon.
Another resident who lives nearby said he had heard Cherie Harvey scream after she had noticed her husband and two sons had been overcome with fumes from the petrol generator inside the shed
Another woman who lived nearby said Mrs Harvey was agitated as police and ambulance crews rushed to the scene shortly after 4.30pm.
‘She was screaming and swearing and crying,’ she said.
The backyard scene of the triple tragedy had been fenced off from the Harvey family’s main corner house on Ryan Street.
High corrugated iron fences had partitioned the backyard from the family home.
The backyard with the shed they were living in was accessed via Creedon Street and had 19a painted on a corrugated iron fence near the gate.
Brothers Kurtis Harvey, 16, (left) and Jakeb ,23, (right) died trying to save their father
The three men were all from Broken Hill which is 1,000km from Sydney and 500km from Adelaide
The poorly-ventilated tin shed had been extended to house the family.
The shed was 20 by 60metres, had a double-door entrance and a single access door that was closed because of the extremely cold winter weather in the arid outback.
There was a water-cooled air-conditioner attached to the wall of the shed but it would have been switched off for winter in an area where temperatures earlier this month have been as low as minus 2 degrees at night.
The shed had no windows or spin-away roof vents.
Layne and his sons Kurtis and Jakeb died on the way to the Broken Hill Base Hospital on Thursday afternoon.
The older son Jakeb had a two-year-old daughter with his girlfriend.
The deaths of Layne, Jakeb and Kurtis leave a devastated Cherie Harvey without a husband and two sons.
Her 18-year-old daughter has also a lost a father and her brothers.
‘You really grieve with the remaining family members,’ a nearby resident said.
A NSW Fire and Rescue team member who was attending the scene put his arm around his teenage son’s shoulders as he laid flowers for his mate on Friday afternoon
‘It’s really ripped into the community.
‘I didn’t know the family but I really feel for them.’
Teenagers have sorrowfully been laying flowers in the red dirt against the corrugated iron fence of the yard, which is cordoned off with police tape.
A New South Wales Fire and Rescue team member who was attending the scene put his arm around his teenage son’s shoulders as he laid flowers for his mate on Friday afternoon.
The Harveys had moved into a caravan and the shed of their red-dirt backyard with one orange tree, only a couple of days before the tragedy
Layne and Cherie Harvey bought their three-bedroom house on Ryan Street at Railway Town in West Broken Hill in 2000, property records show.
The Harveys had moved into a caravan and the shed of their red-dirt backyard with one orange tree, only a couple of days before the tragedy Mrs Graham said.
The spartan backyard with no grass had a trampoline, boat, upside-down dinghy and a gas barbecue next to the caravan.
The Harvey family house on Ryan Street was advertised for rent at $330 a week by First National on June 18, just 10 days before the tragedy.
Rents in Broken Hill are expensive due to the lack of rental accommodation as new mines are about to open, with houses typically leased out for $300 a week in the heritage city of 18,000 people which gave Australia mining giant BHP.
The mining city of Broken Hill, in the far west of New South Wales, is in mourning after the tragic deaths
Their long-term neighbour Margaret Graham said they were ‘just a normal family’.
Mrs Graham said the older son Jakeb had a little two-year-old daughter, and he often played the drums.
Police have confirmed the generator was in the basement, which led to the tragic deaths of the three males.
A nearby resident said he often heard power tools being used in the shed every afternoon, adding the lights were never on in the house.
New South Wales Fire and Rescue crews spent Friday afternoon trying to disperse the toxic fumes from the basement of the shed, to no avail.
Daily Mail Australia saw a local mine rescue specialist attend the scene of the backyard tragedy shortly after lunch.
A specialist hazardous materials team is arriving from Sydney on Saturday to help clear fumes from the basement.
Police have confirmed the generator was in the basement, which led to the tragic deaths of the three males