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A caregiver has described the agony of being unable to reach an 8-year-old boy trapped in a fire, who called to her that he could not get out.
Valmai Horlor, 63, was looking after foster child Aron John Harwood in her role as a respite carer on the eve of Guy Fawke's Day last year when tragedy struck.
Although Aron did not like the noise of fireworks going off, he had a fascination with fire, and had been picking up used fireworks in a park earlier in the day. It appeared he had smuggled a box of matches into his room in Mrs Horlor's Christchurch home, but it is unclear if he had also snuck in fireworks.
In a statement to a coroner's court hearing yesterday, Mrs Horlor said Aron had gone to bed in the upstairs bedroom when she heard a bang.
She called up to him asking what it was, to which Aron replied "nothing". He then went off to the toilet.
As Mrs Horlor walked upstairs she heard a smoke alarm going off. She went up to his room and saw a "glow on the carpet". She ran downstairs, filled a pot with water and threw the water at the glow on the floor. She then went back downstairs and rang 111, while calling to Aron to come downstairs.
"I heard Aron call out 'I can't'. His voice just sounded normal, not panicky or anything."
She said she tried to get to him but smoke drove her outside.
Firefighters arrived and tackled the fire, and Aron was carried out. Efforts to resuscitate him failed.
