Twin girls who tragically died in a Byron Bay house fire, believed to have been started by a candle left burning in their room, have been pictured.
Ophelia and Tarrow, both 4, are understood to have been killed by smoke inhalation after the fire erupted at the Goonengerry residence, west of the coastal town on Sunday morning.
The tragedy was discovered when the girls' father and his girlfriend checked on the children and found them unresponsive, with smoke billowing from the property, about 4am.
The girls had been visiting their father as part of shared parenting arrangements over the weekend.
Harrowing calls were made to triple-zero begging for help - but it was too late to save them.
The home was among 19 properties dotted around the isolated 40 ha commune in the Byron Bay hinterland in northern NSW.
Ophelia and Tarrow (pictured with their mother) are understood to have died from smoke inhalation after a fire at their Byron Bay house
Residents who choose to live off-grid at the Nunkeri Multi Occupancy commune consider each other family, and were enjoying a collective bonfire well into the early hours of Sunday morning when tragedy struck
A member of the public reacts while holding a bouquet of flowers outside the home where twin four-year-old girls died following a house fire
The girls were sleeping together in a bedroom within close proximity to a piano. Sitting on the piano, police believe, was a lit candle which caused the fire
'Hurry, the babies can't breathe,' the girlfriend told the operator on the end of the line. Paramedics arrived shortly after, but neither little girl could be revived.
The twins were visiting their father at the commune for the weekend. It's not yet clear how much time they spent in the isolated alternative living camp.
Aerial footage of the remote bush property shows several dwellings scattered among the trees.
There are no driveways, no fences to separate one home from the next. Cars park haphazardly wherever their drivers can find space.
The community relies on a water tank at the centre of the property and it's understood they pool resources wherever possible.
'They're like a family,' one local told Daily Mail Australia. 'They're all grieving so much right now.'
