Punchbowl house fire: Sydney man Keiron Summers died while trying to put out blaze at unit

A man has died after trying to put out a massive blaze that engulfed his unit with a fire extinguisher.

Emergency services rushed to Highclere Avenue at Punchbowl, in Sydney’s southwest, to find a unit engulfed by flames at about 10pm on Saturday.

Keiron Summers, 54, was pulled unconscious from the home and was treated by paramedics before he died at the scene.

Mr Summers was one of three people inside the home at the time, with the other two managing to escape the unit while Summers attempted to extinguish the fire.

Fire and Rescue NSW’s Andrew Shurety said Mr Summers was found with soot around his mouth and nose, and that he died after inhaling smoke and potentially toxic gases.

It is understood Mr Summers took a fire extinguisher with him upstairs when the fire started.

Mr Shurety said this was a ‘futile attempt’ given the magnitude of the fire in a stern message intended for anyone caught in a massive house fire.

‘I don’t think people realise a fire extinguisher is not going to extinguish a blaze of that size,’ he told 7News. 

‘Our firefighters do not enter these premises without breathing apparatuses.

‘The risk is, if you go into a smoke environment it only takes a couple of breaths of this toxic gas that you can be unconscious and on the floor.’

While the cause of the fire is still being investigated, Mr Shurety said four lithium iron batteries were found upstairs.

‘Battery fires can start quickly and burn with extreme heat, and are difficult to extinguish,’ he said. 

It is understood Mr Summers tried to use a fire extinguisher in an attempt to quash the blaze, eliciting a warning from police about the dangers of approaching large fires 

Local woman Diana Jabbour said people had tried to enter the burning unit but ‘they had no luck’. 

‘This fire had just caught up … it was so thick and it was so strong,’ she told 7News. 

‘All you could feel was just ashes on your hair and everyone was in a panic.’

Ms Jabbour described Mr Summers as a ‘beautiful man’. 

‘He took everybody in… he was very sweet,’ she said. 

A crime scene has been established and the cause of the fire is being investigated.

Anyone with information is urged to contact Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000.