The mother of three young children found dead inside a Port Hedland home after a house fire on Tuesday afternoon is assisting police with their investigation.

Emergency services were called to the blaze on Anderson Street in Port Hedland (above), metres from the town centre, around 4.45pm and extinguished the fire in 30 minutes.

Acting WA Police deputy commissioner Allan Adams said on Wednesday the bodies of three children – aged five months, seven and 10 – were discovered during the operation but declined to comment on where they were found or whether the mother was home at the time.

“The circumstances leading up to this tragedy will be subject to investigation,” he said.

“I don’t propose to go into the details of the family background at this time … the fathers of the children have been notified of the tragic death of their children.”

The mother was spoken to by police in the immediate aftermath and was receiving medical treatment as a result of the fire.

6PR reporter Anne Naylor shared more information from WA Police headquarters with Liam Bartlett on 6PR Mornings (Listen to the audio 👇).

“We keep saying the word tragic but there’s just no other way to describe this, it’s just awful and so gut-wrenching for this community,” she said.

The WA Police homicide squad, arson squad and forensic officers were flying to the scene from Perth on Wednesday morning and yet to speak to the mother.

“The investigation will take time, obviously there is the potential criminal behaviour that we investigate but obviously with the death of three people, the coronial investigation will also look at a number of issues leading up to the incident to better understand if there were opportunities for this to be prevented,” Adams said.

Town of Port Hedland mayor Peter Carter said the incident was gut-wrenching for the close-knit community, telling Mornings support services were being offered to the first responders on the scene.

House fire claims the lives of a 10 year old girl, 7 year old boy and 5 month boy in Port Hedland. The mother is assisting police with their investigation. Father has been notified of their deaths @9NewsPerth @9NewsAUS

— Tracy Vo (@Tracy_Vo) July 20, 2022