The survivor of a devastating house fire that killed a mother and two boys has been charged with three counts of murder.

Jordana Johnson, 36, her 12-year-old son Jordan Norris and his friend Chazz Mather, 12, were killed in the October 15 blaze that destroyed a two-storey home at Gladstone in central Queensland.

It took crews almost two hours to extinguish the fire, with search efforts for the trio hampered by the house's top storey collapsing.

Contessa Leigh Marie Richardson, 37, was injured while escaping the blaze and has been charged with three counts of murder and two counts of arson.

After a week-long investigation, police said they believed the fire was deliberately lit.

Richardson faced a brief bedside hearing in hospital on Friday and was remanded to appear in the Brisbane Ma

See Full Page