Vic: Police wait for father who lost whole family to recover

AAP General News (Australia)
08-17-2009
Vic: Police wait for father who lost whole family to recover

By Greg Roberts

MELBOURNE, Aug 17 AAP - Police hope in the next few days to speak to a 31-year-old
man who lost his wife and four young children in a weekend house fire.

Aaron Holloway has undergone surgery in Geelong Hospital after suffering burns, abrasions
and smoke inhalation. Police will speak to him when he has recovered.

Mr Holloway survived by escaping through the front door of his home at Clifton Springs,
southwest of Melbourne.

But his entire family perished in the blaze early on Sunday.

His four children - Brodie, two, Thomas, 18 months, and his three-month-old twins,
son Cooper and daughter Mackenzie - died along with their mother, Ashlee, aged 24.

It is believed Mr Holloway, a truck mechanic, jumped through a window to try to reach
his family but was driven back by the flames.

"(Arson squad) investigators plan to speak to him in the next couple of days," police
spokeswoman Sergeant Sharon Darcy said.

She said investigators did not consider the fire to be suspicious but were still investigating.

Arson and Explosive Squad detectives have now cleared the scene and are awaiting the
results of forensic tests to determine what caused the fire.

It appears Ms Holloway's life revolved around her four children.

On her MySpace web page she said: "Life as a mum rocks. I can't imagine anything better".

She was pregnant when she last wrote on the page but said she planned to go back to
work as a real-estate agent.

Recent postings from friends mostly congratulated her on the birth of her new babies.

Ms Holloway completed her schooling in Geelong, near the Clifton Springs home in which
she perished.

She attended Sacred Heart College, Belmont High School and Matthew Flinders Girls College
at various times.

She said on her the web page that The Beatles were her idols, TV personality Oprah
Winfrey was a hero and her favourite books were "anything with a happy ending".

Police will prepare a report for the coroner.

AAP gr/jl/cdh

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