JEREMIAH Lale, whose wife and five children died in the Slacks Creek house fire tragedy, has told of hearing their screams as he frantically tried to save them.

His nephew Jerry confirmed that the family had planned to move from the house the day after Wednesday's tragedy.

"They had been successful in obtaining a rental property which was nearby the house and they celebrated on that evening, the children were rejoicing and happy that they had found a place they were able to reside in and get some normality back into their lives, '' he told a media conference this morning.

""On that dreadful evening the good Lord had plans for our family."

He said his uncle woke up to the smell of smoke and loud noises.

"'He was awake in his room that he shared with his wife to find that all he could see was pitch darkness and smoke.

"He also said that he wasn't able to see beyond his hand because of the smoke that was in the room, then heard the screams of his children and ran to the other side of the house

"When he ran to the other side of the house he asked (his wife) to gather the children and take them into the other room, when he did that he called out and he kicked the back door and there was no stairs on the second floor and he ran back to the room that he told them to congregate in and come together with the children but there was no one there,'' he said.

He ran through the house trying to find them, but could not, and the screaming had stopped.

""This is still very very raw for us, we're a really tight-knit family, we love each other very much, we have a strong family.''

The older Mr Lale told how he leapt from a second storey window when the cries fell silent, believing his family had made it out ahead of him.

"There was nothing I could do inside the house, the fire and the smoke," the grieving father and husband said.

"I keep calling my wife's name, my boys, my girls, no one answered.

"At that time, I thought to myself they are already outside. They've jumped from the window.

"I ran calling my wife and my kids - no one there.

"No one answers and I realised that at that time my wife and my kids, they can't make it."

"If I knew my wife and kids not outside the house, there's no way I'm going to leave them in there. I'm going to stay inside the house with them.

"My wife, she took all my kids and leave me behind."

Detective Inspector Chris Jory said the fire appeared to have started in a downstairs office. He said grandfather Tau Taufa had earlier been in the study and had gone upstairs. He smelled smoke so returned to the office where he saw smoke coming through floorboards.

Det Insp Jory said he grabbed a hose and started trying to extinguish the fire while trying to rouse his family.

Det Insp Jory said seven people, including Jeremiah Lale's family had gathered in the loungeroom, but that floor had collapsed, possibly while Jeremiah was trying to find an escape route.

Those bodies were found on the ground floor, one body was found in a rear right bedroom and three bodies were in the front right bedroom

Det Insp Jory said a threat was made towards a member of the family a few weeks ago but he said investigators were confident the person who made the alleged threat was not responsible for the fire.

He emphasised the fire was still believed to be accidental.

Jerry Lale, thanked the community and well wishers from around the world including Junior Sa'u who plays for the Newscastle Knights.

He said Sa'u and the team would be wearing black arm bands during their next match. "To our people, our community and everyone all over Australia, if you have a family or little ones, cuddle them, love them, tell the, you love them." He urged people to mend any rifts they may have in the family, and for parents to take care of their children.

Jeremiah Lale lost his wife and five children, aged eight to 18, in the Slacks Creek blaze.

He was one of a number of family members who last night continued to maintain a vigil outside the blackened remains of the house where 11 people perished.

Ben Latu, 30, a nephew of another survivor Tau Taufa, was among about 40 extended family members who either slept in chairs, cars or on the ground.

"We stayed here to show support for the rest of the family, so they know they are not alone," he said.

Treicee Taufa, whose daughter Ardelle perished in the fire, also spent the night by the memorial wall.

Family members are this morning cleaning up around the makeshift camp and the Salvation Army returned about 6am to start setting up breakfast for the grieving families.

Police have flatly ruled out foul play in the tragedy, dismissing reports accelerants had been found at the scene.

media_camera Jeremiah Lale who lost his wife and five children in the Slacks Creek fire tragedy. Picture: Nathan Richter

Channel 10 reported that evidence of accelerants had been discovered at the Wagensveldt St house and that police had investigated threats against the extended family who lived there.

But Logan police superintendent Noel Powers told journalists that there was no evidence of foul play.

"There is no evidence there to indicate that the fire was anything but non-suspicious," he said.

"Any inkling that there was some level of involvement of an accelerant or a third party or a deliberate act, it would have become apparent by now.

"There's no evidence of any foul play whatsoever."

Supt Powers said another five bodies were retrieved from the house today - the last of them the youngest victim, three-year old Kalahnie Taufa. Mourners performed the haka as three bodies were removed in a hearse late in the afternoon.

It brought to nine the number of bodies recovered so far. Police hope to retrieve the two remaining bodies on Friday.

Earlier, Year 12 students from Mabel Park State School have paid an emotional tribute to their dead schoolmates at the scene of the Slacks Creek fire.

Holding orange balloons, bunches of flowers and cards, the group marched down Wagensveldt Street at around 3.30pm.

The group of about 50 was led by a young man holding a cross and singing John Lennon's Let it be.

Everyone stopped and stared as they made their way down the road, the only sound the one schoolboy's brave voice.

"It started on Facebook, we just had to do it," one student said.

The students, dressed in uniform with their names on the back of their shirts, embraced as more spontaneous singing broke out from the crowd gathered at the house.

Then, led by the soulful lone male voice, the students sang a brief rendition of Amazing Grace.

They thanked the gathered mourners for "letting us come and pay our respects".

The dozen or so Salvation Army volunteers continued with their steady supply of food and drink for the mourners, many dressed in black.

One police officer lent a hand, giving out sausage rolls to the hungry crowd, many of whom have not left for nearly 48 hours.

At 430pm, immediate family members wrapped in prayer mats approached the fence obscuring their house as police prepared to bring out more bodies.

A van arrived a short time ago and more bodies are expected to be loaded into it soon.

Earlier, at around 2pm, more bodies were taken from the site amid emotional scenes.

Wailing and crying Tongans and Samoans surrounded the hearse as it took the bodies from the Wagensveldt St house.

Mourners wearing traditional Polynesian ceremonial dress, grass matting known as tauvala, wept and hugged in the street as the bodies were driven away.

The doors of the hearse were opened so relatives including Treicee Taufa, who lost her 15-year-old daughter Ardelle in the blaze, could say goodbye according to Polyensian custom.

Police are expected to confirm soon how many bodies have now been removed from the blackened ruins of No.60 Wagensveldt St.

Four were taken out yesterday, including two children.

Earlier today, the Salvation Army has announced an appeal for the remaining family of the 11 victims of the Slacks Creek house fire.

Anyone wishing to donate can call 13 SALVOS (137258) and quote "Slacks Creek fire" or visit salvos.org.au and write "Slacks Creek fire" in the comments box on the donation page.

In the afternoon, a man who lost his mother, sister and three nieces in the fire made an emotional address to the large gathering of people at the scene of the tragedy.

Sam Taufa stood before the crowd and thanked family, friends, strangers, police and the media for being there.

"I've gained a lot of brothers and sisters in you," he said. "Not just in Brisbane but around the world.

"We have lost 11 (family) members but have gained 100 more in each other.

"To respect the memories of our loved ones let's respect each other. I might have lost my mother but I have gained more in you.

"Thank you for all the love you have given to our families.

"I do not know what God has planned, but he lives, he lives. "

Mr Taufa, speaking also on behalf of the Lale family, said he told his father, Tau, of the tragedy last night.

"When I told my father, last night, of the tragedy, he said "It's not fair that Mum's gone on holiday and left me here' "

Mr Taufa collapsed after his emotional speech and received treatment from paramedics, who gave him oxygen and checked his blood pressure.

Fruit and vegetables were brought to the site in preparation to cook meals for the growing crowd.

A dump truck also visited the site to collect the rubbish generated during the vigil over the past day and a half.

Neighbours have provided use of their bins, their yards and their toilets although two port-a-loos were also set up this morning to serve the crowd of mourners.

media_camera Family members stand at the wall of flowers left near the burnt out house during the second day of investigation and greiving at the house fire in Wagensveldt Street Slacks Creek where 11 people died. Picture: Jeff Camden

Seven bodies remain in the charred remains of the home in Wagensveldt Street, Slacks Creek, where 11 people perished in a fire on Tuesday night. Eight of the victims were children.

Those who died are:

Fusi Taufa, 57, Jeannette "Neti" Lale, Annamaria Taufa, 23, Jerry lale, 18, Paul lale, 17, Lafoai Lale, 13, Dela Lale, 9, Richie lale, 7, Lahaina Taufa, 6, Kalahnie Taufa, 4, Ardelle Lee, 15.

Tau Taufa, 65, Jeremiah Lale, 36 and Misi Mataurina, 26, survived.

As dawn broke on Thursday, police set to work to retrieve the bodies and work out what caused the blaze.

Well wishers, from older people to school aged children, continue to flow in with flowers and tributes to place on the memorial wall.

About 150 people have gathered under the tent again that police erected for them yesterday.

Many family members slept in cars or on the street overnight.

Every now then, louder crying and often singing breaks out from the crowd.

The street remains closed in both directions with the family and media gathered at one end.

Fire investigators can be spotted on the top floor of the house as they move to stabilise the structure and recover more victims.

Sergeant Steve Cook from the Disaster Victim's Identification squad said the recovery of the victims was a similar process to that of the Childers Bacpackers fire.

He said the importance of the job was not lost on the team.

"We are dealing with people and people's emotions" he said.

He said the officers inside the house could hear the family members outside singing.

"Inside we can hear them singing and it gives us a bit of a lift as well," he said.

Sgt Cook said the DVI's first major job, besides Childers, was the 2002 Bali Bombing. The squad also worked through the tsunami in Thailand, the Black Hawk helicopter disaster in Townsville and the Black Saturday bushfires in Victoria.

"This is the same work on a smaller scale," he said.

Vincent Lee, who lost his daughter Ardelle, in the fire is one of those maintaining a vigil.

"My little girl is in there," he said. "And I'm not going anywhere until she does."

Mr Lee was one of a handful of relatives and friends of the victims who had kept a vigil at the scene.

``I didn't get much sleep last night, it was pretty cold," he said.

``Something good is coming out of this, everybody from both communities on Tonga and Samoa are helping each other and supporting each other.

``That's not always the case here but this dreadful thing has brought us all together.''

He spoke fondly of Ardelle, 16, whom he last saw at his brother's 21st birthday party last month.

"She was a happy girl. She would help anyone," Mr Lee said.

He recalled her love of music and how she would always sing. "She liked to sing. She wrote her own songs."

Another relative who slept on a mat on the footpath spent the night wrapped in little more that a blanket.

media_camera A photo of Ardelle Lee, 16, at a memorial where family and friends have left flowers and mementos for the 11 victims of the Slacks Creek house fire. Picture: Adam Armstrong

``My cousin and I got a little bit of sleep, everyone just supporting each other.

``We are here together in our sadness.''

It was also revealed a puppy which belonged to two of the child victims also perished.

Jeremiah Lale, who lost his wife and five children in the inferno, paid a visit at dawn to a tribute wall set up on a screen fence outside the ruins of the house.

A wall of flowers adorn a sheet erected around the front of the house.

An eerie calm fell over the street at dawn with only birds and the humming of a police vehicle breaking the silence.

Three people sat under a tent on chairs, wrapped in blankets,, where about 80 friends and family members gathered to mourn on Wednesday.

Police Deputy Commissioner Ian Stewart told ABC Radio he would not speculate on witness reports of the home's large LPG gas bottles ``exploding'' around the time the fire started.

``I think you can see the photos of the house for yourself, the gas bottles seem to be intact,'' Mr Stewart said.

``Gas bottles can also vent at the same time, they are designed with safety valves for the gas to vent from.

``That can be quite different from an explosion.

``Anyone who has been at the scene of a large fire would know the crackling, the banging, the huge number of noises that occur during a major fire, particularly a structural fire, can be interpreted in many ways.

``That's part of the investigation.''

Mr Stewart said it was up to expert fire investigators to determine the cause of the inferno, which could take time

The area remains cordoned off by police with investigators expected to return at daylight to continue the harrowing recovery of the remaining seven bodies.

Salvation Army volunteers set up breakfast for the handful of people who had kept an overnight vigil on Wednesday night.

media_camera A neighbour snapped this image at the height of the fire in a Slacks Creek house which left 11 people from two families dead.

Earlier, the bodies of two children were removed from the blackened shell of a house where 11 people perished south of Brisbane.

A van carrying the bodies stopped briefly in the middle of the street in Slacks Creek and the back doors were open to allow immediate family to offer a brief prayer and farewell hymn.

Police Superintendent Noel Powers told reporters the building in Wagensveldt Street had been secured but parts were still being shored up. Police had allowed family members into the scene to lay wreaths.

Four bodies had been found by 3pm and would be removed within the hour, he said.

"The bodies are dispersed throughout the house in a number of locations," Supt Powers said.

"While there are a number of bodies in one or two locations the majority are dispersed throughout the house.

"That's what makes it particularly difficult.

"We've got to find our way through the rubble, make sure it's safe, and then locate the people as well."

The seat of the fire had also been established. The blaze began underneath the building but no cause has been determined.

Supt Powers said large gas bottles that were venting when the first crews arrived didn't cause the blaze, but caught fire as a result of the heat from the inferno.

All 11 victims who perished in flames were sleeping, except for one, authorities have revealed.

Two escaped and one person was already outside.

Queensland Fire and Rescue Service Deputy Commissioner Iain Mackenzie said officers were trying to make the house safe so they could enter and retrieve the bodies.

"It'll be absolutely as soon as possible to try and bring some closure to the families and the community," he said.

He said there was superficial damage to neighbouring properties and confirmed four gas bottles added to the intensity of the blaze.

However, they still didn't know what started the fire.

Queensland Police Deputy Commissioner Ian Stewart said the age range of the victims were 3 to 47 years-old and that one person had been interviewed by police.

He said the first call came just after midnight and crews responded within seven minutes.

Logan Mayor Pam Parker, who visited the gutted Slacks Creek house this morning, said it was a "sad day for our city", but all would be done to prevent a similar incident in the future.

"It was an inferno and one firie actually said it was the worst inferno he'd attended," she said.

"There were four gas bottles that went off and that's probably accounted for the intensity of it."

Polynesian songs of grief are ringing out in Wagensveldt Street at Slacks Creek.

The harmonies of hundreds of Pacific islanders, gathered with heads bowed at the scene of fhe fire tragedy, are filling the air.

An impromptu and emotional service for the victims has also been held beneath shade shelters erected in the street.

Islander religious leaders wept as they delivered a sermon in Tongan and English.

"What have we done to deserve this Lord?" one church leader pleaded.

"It's unimaginable ... There's nothing we can do, nothing we can say.

"We just pray that you give us the strength to face tomorrow with all of this grief."

Eight children and teenagers are among 11 people killed in Queensland's worst fire since the Childers backpacker blaze.

Three men from two Pacific Islander families managed to escape the blaze with their lives, but face grief of enormous proportions.

Among them is Jeremiah Lale, who has lost his wife and five children, aged seven to 18.

He had fought with everything he had to save them from the fire that tore through their home with deadly speed early this morning.

With flames all around him, he broke a second-storey window and hurled mattresses on to the ground, screaming for his family to follow him.

He leapt out and opened his arms to catch his children but they didn't come. Nor did five others who had been asleep inside the tin-and-fibro home.

The fire reportedly started just after midnight in the home, in Wagensveldt St in the suburb of Slacks Creek, that was occupied by two Pacific Islander families.

media_camera House Fire Wagensveldt street Kingston . Picture: Batterham Mike

Police have confirmed three men escaped (updated from previous report of two men at 10.30am) the blaze and were attempting to extinguish the fire when emergency services were alerted.

The home had 13 occupants. A 'large number of bodies' have been located in the home this morning, police said, later confirming that 11 people were dead. Most of them, as many as seven, are thought to have been children.

The two-storey home was fully alight when emergency crews arrived. The second storey later collapsed.

media_camera THE scene of the house fire at Slacks Creek. Picture: Mike Batterham

Neighbour Tanikka Dwyer, 21, said her brother, aged 16, was awoken when he heard up to three explosions and "a lot of breaking glass" coming from the house.

She said they heard people screaming and "calling out for help".

Ms Dwyer said she saw two men rush into the house to fight the fire, but did not know if they later came out.

She said one man was seen outside the house, distressed, saying “my family, my family are in there”.

Her mother called 000, as did several other neighbours.

Ms Dwyer said she believed there were five children living in the home, possibly two of high school age and three younger ones.

"They were always nice, they would wave and say hello," said Ms Dwyer, who has lived in the street for six years.

She said a car in front of the house was seen on fire as well.

Police later confirmed there was a huge explosion just after midnight. Two vehicles outside the building and four 45L LPG cylinders were alight in the "very intense" fire.

Another neighbour, Zachary Pearson, 16, said two teenage boys who lived in the house once attended Woodridge State High School with him, but now went to nearby Mabel Park State School

He thought they were in Grade 9 and 10. The boys would sometimes play football and basketball together in the local park.

Zachary believed that relatives of the deceased also lived in a second house in the street.

He said he was sitting up late watching a movie when he heard a loud bang and discovered the fire.

He said the house was fully alight within minutes, with "flames up over the roof" allowing no time for others to go into the house to help.

He said it was raining and there were powerlines down in the street.

"It was a bad situation," he said.

Another neighbour, Kary Tuatar, said he was awoken by the flames coming from the nearby property.

He said he immediately awoke his wife and children and fled with them to safety further up the street.

Queensland Fire and Rescue Acting Chief Superintendent Peter Ryan confirmed two men has escaped the blaze.

He said fire crews had arrived five minutes after the initial call, but arrived to find the fire totally involved.

He said fire fighters will be offered counselling following the discovery of multiple fatalities, adding that some of the officers involved this morning were sent in after the Bali Bombing.

"Never in my service, never have I seen anything like this," he said.

"I haven't seen a tragedy which is to this extent, I've certainly seen a lot of fatalities in my time… but not to this extent."

He said they were still determining if there were fire alarms in the house.

Police Superintendent Noel Powers said the bodies would be recovered today via a "slow, methodical process".

"I think it'll take a long time for this to even dissipate or for the hurt to go away," he said.

"(It is) a tragedy of an unimaginable scale. Never in my service have I seen something like this. It's a total, utter catastrophe."

He said that community healing would become an immediate priority.

"There has already been a huge outpouring of grief in this community."

Specialist Forensic officers will also assist with investigations into the cause of the fire, but early indications suggest nothing was suspicious.

Superintendent Powers said authorities have to get the house stabilised and police are going through the rubble now and then forensic officers and victim identification personnel will investigate.

A pastor, police chaplain and many local residents are on the scene offering support to the tight-knit community.

The coroner have been notified.

It is believed to be Australia's worst fire tragedy since the Childers Backpackers fire on June 23, 2000, which claimed 15 lives.

Cr Parker said prayer services would be held tonight for the Samoan and Tongan community and facilities offered tomorrow for them to come together in prayer at the Logan Metro Sports Complex.

"When I went down on site this morning, the grief and the outpouring of emotion was heartwrenching - it brought me to tears," she said.

"There was heart-wrenching sobbing on site. You just had to hug them and comfort them and let them pour our their tears."

"There's (also) been counselling services provided for the family and the schools where the children went to for their friends."

Cr Parker said two families were staying at the home and eight of the victims who perished in the flames were children between the ages of three and 18.

"But also an extended part of the family came from overseas and were staying with them for a short period of time until they got established - that's why they had a large number there." she said.

Cr Parker said six fire trucks attended the blaze.

Originally published as I heard the screams - and then they stopped