Hero father ignored relatives' pleas to race back into his burning home in ... trends now
A hero father ignored the pleas of relatives to race back into his burning home to try and save his four-year-old son, friends told the Mail today.
Father-of-four Barry Mason managed to escape the inferno but returned after realising his youngest boy, Ethan, was still inside.
He managed to rescue the youngster, but both father and son later succumbed to injuries they sustained in the inferno.
Today friends told how eldest son, David, 18, tried to grab his father's arm to try and stop him returning into the house, and shouted: 'Dad, you can't. The whole place is on fire!'
But desperate Mr Mason brushed him off and was determined to go back, saying: 'No, no! Ethan's still in there.'
Father-of-four Barry Mason managed to escape the inferno but returned after realising his youngest boy, Ethan, was still inside
Mr Mason managed to rescue the youngster, but both father and son later succumbed to injuries they sustained in the inferno
Barry pictured with his wife Rachel (bottom right), eldest son David (top left) and daughter Bethany (bottom left)
Mr Mason was confirmed dead shortly after the blaze, which started at around 2.30am on Sunday morning (pictured with Ethan)
Mr Mason was confirmed dead shortly after the blaze, which started at around 2.30am on Sunday morning. Ethan suffered serious burns and was placed in a coma but died on Tuesday.
Mr Mason's wife, Rachel, 45, David, and their two other children, Bethany, 16 and Isaac, 14, all made it out of the burning semi, in Wigan, Lancashire, and were taken to hospital. They have all since been discharged.
Today Mr Mason's sister-in-law, Jessica Causer, described Mr Mason as 'our very own super hero.'
Alongside a picture of Mr Mason with Ethan on his shoulders, she posted on Facebook: 'Barry, we are heartbroken. Such a gentle giant and a devoted Daddy until your last breath.
'Words will never describe just how grateful we are to you, hold our baby tight up there.'
The fire, in the early hours of Sunday morning, is thought to have been started by a faulty mini-fridge in the kitchen.
David, who suffered burns, scrambled down a drain pipe at the back of the house to escape the blaze.
His siblings, Isaac and Bethany, are thought to have jumped to safety from an upstairs window onto the family's trailer tent, which was parked at the front of the house.
Mrs Mason was rescued when passers-by helped her out an upstairs window with a ladder.
Ethan suffered serious burns and was placed in a coma but died on Tuesday
Barry pictured with daughter Bethany
Family friend Gaynor Bimson, 35, whose 15-year-old daughter, Leona, is best friends with Bethany, said Mr Mason, who worked for a school catering firm, was a 'proper, proper family man.'
She said: 'Barry was a hard-working family man who would do anything for his children and his wife.
'He did not think twice about going back in, even though David tried to stop him because the place was ablaze. It was completely gutted, there isn't even a staircase in it now.
'It must have been awful because the house is totally destroyed inside.'
Mrs Bimson said David was 'blaming himself because he didn't stop his dad' but added: 'Everyone knows he wouldn't have been able to. Barry would put his
