A firefighter at the trial of three people accused of killing six children in a house blaze has described the moment he found "casualties everywhere".
Michael Patterson was part of a crew who fought through flames looking for youngsters trapped inside the property in Derby in May last year.
He told Nottingham Crown Court the fire had created such thick black smoke he had to try to locate the children by touch and not sight.
The children's parents, Mick and Mairead Philpott, and a third defendant, Paul Mosley, are on trial. They have denied six counts of manslaughter in relation to the deaths.
Six siblings - Jade, 10, John, nine, Jack, eight, Jesse, six, Jayden, five, and Duwayne, 13 - all died in the fire in the Allenton area.
Referring to a statement Mr Patterson made shortly after the fire, Prosecutor Richard Latham QC asked him: "Did you become aware at this point that, as you put it, there seemed to be casualties everywhere upstairs?"
"Yes, that's correct," he replied.
Mr Patterson said he and a colleague fought back flames with water before making their way upstairs in the three-bedroom house after being told the children were still inside.
The fire was raging downstairs, it had burnt through the plastic front door, and an open window at the top of the stairs had created a "chimney effect" and filled the entirety of the upper level with acrid smoke, the court heard.
Mr Patterson and a second firefighter, Steve Fell, using breathing apparatus, went into a first bedroom where they found one of the children.
Mr Fell bent over a bed and picked up the child before handing the casualty to Mr Patterson.
He said he cradled the youngster in his arms as he began to make his way out of the house so they could receive medical treatment for the youngster.
He laid the child down on the pavement, where a paramedic came over, before going back inside the building.
In a second bedroom containing bunkbeds the firefighters found another child who was also carried from the property.
Mr Patterson said a second breathing apparatus crew had also entered the property and they were now working as a team of four instead of the usual two because of the situation.
"It was quite confusing, quite chaotic, with a great sense of urgency," he said.
Two other children were found in a bedroom at the front of the house that contained a double bed. The trial continues.
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