Celebrity chef Matt Golinski suffered from burns to 40 per cent of his body in a Boxing Day fire. Picture: Bra Cooper

The everyday household item has been ruled as the cause of a fire that claimed the life of a Melbourne boy after playing a video game, and the possible cause of a house fire that killed the wife and three children of celebrity chef Matt Golinski in 2011.

The handing down of these findings today has prompted experts to again warn about the dangers of powerboards, especially as we prepare to light up Christmas trees and plug in electronic presents this festive season.

TIMOTHY DE VOIGT

Christmas 2009 will always be remembered by one Cranbourne family as a heartbreaking tragedy.

On Christmas Day, 12-year-old Timothy De Voigt was playing his Nintendo Wii with his brother in the rumpus room, just outside their shared bedroom.

In the early hours of Boxing Day, about 2.30am, Timothy’s mum snapped awake when she heard her sons crying for help as their bedroom filled with flames.

The mother ran to their aid, gagging from the smell and blinded by the thick smoke.

She eventually saw smoke billowing as high as Timothy’s top bunk bed and a fire roaring on a nearby curtain.

She called out to Timothy to escape and called for her husband.

The mother took the rest of the children outside to safety and as she looked back at her house, she saw black smoke swelling through the rooms.

Her husband was not far behind her and when he got outside, he realised Timothy was not to be seen.

He attempted to get back into the house but the fire was too intense for him to re-enter.

When firefighters eventually extinguished the raging blaze, they went into the bedroom to find Timothy in his bed.

The fire had started in the bedroom where a double adapter was plugged into a power point.

Coming out of the double adapter was an extension cord and beside it was another extension cord plugged into the powerpoint.

One of the extension cords was connected to a power board that had four appliances plugged into it.

In the fire wreckage, another power board was found.

At least two appliances had been plugged into it.

A PlayStation, TV, fan and charging unit also led to the power board but police could not determine whether they had also been connected to it.

Investigations found the fire either started from an electrical fault within a power board or from dodgy wiring or connections with one of the appliances plugged into the power board.

The fire at the De Voigt’s home was also compared with another fire in August 2009 at the Il Gambrero restaurant in Lygon Street.

A multi-outlet power board or an applicance connected to it was the source of the fire.

The coroner found power boards were being misused at the time of both fires and the tragedies were preventable.

Wife of Celebrity Chef Matt Golinski, Rachael, and her three daughters were killed in a fire on Boxing Day in 2011.Source:Supplied

MATT GOLINSKI’S FAMILY

Meanwhile a four-outlet power board may have been the cause of a horror Boxing Day house fire that killed the family of chef Matt Golinski at their Sunshine Coast home in 2011, a Queensland coroner has found.

Rachael Golinski and her three daughters — twins Sage and Willow, 12, and Starlia, 10 — each succumbed to injuries caused by the inferno hours after the family’s Christmas Day celebrations. Mr Golinski managed to escape the blaze but suffered severe burns to 40 per cent of his body.

In non-inquest findings released today, state coroner Terry Ryan said it was likely the powerboard, 240-volt Christmas lights or other electrical equipment located under or close to the family’s Christmas tree were the culprits.

He also found that despite initial suggestions, lit tea light candles were unlikely to have sparked the blaze. But he did note the family’s smoke alarms offered “no warning” even though they were in working order.

The family had spent Christmas Day with relatives and were asleep in their Tewantin home in the early hours of Boxing Day when the fire started.

“Matt told police that, at some point, he woke up to Rachael yelling at him, saying the house was on fire,” Mr Ryan said.

“Rachael went to get Sage and Willow from their bedroom at the other end of the house. Matt tried to get Starlia from her bedroom which was adjacent to his, but he could not get past the heat. The intensity of the heat was such that he had to escape out the back door and onto the driveway.”

Mr Ryan said neighbours tended to Mr Golinski, who suffered 40 per cent burns to his body, as he lay on the grass. Fire crews found Rachael’s body in the twin’s bedroom, the twins’s bodies in the hallway and Starlia’s body in her bedroom.

Mr Ryan said he would not proceed with an inquest and that was in keeping with Mr Golinski’s wishes.

Mr Golinski was in an induced coma for two months after the fire.

In his first interview after the tragedy, the popular chef told the Courier Mail he had “no idea” why he was spared from the fire but was “determined to look forward and live a life that would make them proud”.

“I want to honour the memory of Rachael and our girls by finding a silver lining somewhere in these dark clouds,” Mr Golinski said.

“To say my world has been turned upside down is an understatement. Although the loss of my family is unfathomable, at this stage of my recovery, I am simply grateful to be alive and to have experienced the love of my beautiful wife and three daughters.”

Master Electricians Association chief executive Malcolm Richards warns people to be careful with power boards.Source:News Limited

WHAT NOT TO DO THIS CHRISTMAS

CFA state duty officer Rohan Luke said this was not a time of year for families to be grieving after relatives or devastated by fires.

“Our concerns are people overloading power boards or people using worn and faulty ones,” he said.

With people more encouraged to light up trees and houses at Christmas, Mr Luke said power boards were being used more frequently and for longer periods.

“We are mixing lighting and using them around trees and if they are natural Christmas trees, they dry out,” he said.

Mr Luke suggested people use LED Christmas lights and buy ones that are on longer strands, to avoid plugging a number of small ones into power sockets.

Master Electricians Australia chief executive Malcolm Richards said there were three key things for people to remember when using power boards.

“Never buy cheap power boards,” he said.

“We’ve had a flood of cheap, imported power boards in the country and 11 different brands have been recalled in the last year.

“They are weak and just don’t carry the load.”

Mr Richards said people plugging power boards into power boards was one of the most common mistakes.

He said it produced a strong enough current to overheat the power board plugged into the wall socket, which could lead to melting and in more severe cases, fatalities.

“It’s really quite common — we get a lot of call outs where power boards have melted into the power point or melted to something else,” he said.

“But they are the lucky ones.”

Mr Richards said it was vital people did not plug in high-powered appliances into power boards, like fridges and washing machines.

Visit recalls.gov.au to check whether your power board is faulty.