A landlord ignored repeated warnings about improperly installed smoke alarms before a house fire that killed a father and his five children on Russell Island, Queensland (a car-ferry-access island off Brisbane), a coronial inquest has heard. The blaze broke out on 6 August 2023 in a two-storey timber home; the father, aged 34, died after running back inside to save the children, whose ages ranged from three to eleven. No witnesses recalled hearing an alarm sound during the fire, and the homeowner was later fined just AU$774 — the maximum penalty available under Queensland law — for improper installation, with no conviction recorded. The inquest, which will sit for ten days in November, will examine whether compliant smoke alarms could have prevented the deaths and whether the remote location of the island, which has no fire station and requires emergency vehicles to be ferried across, contributed to the tragedy.