Depot Hill house burns for the second time in just over a month

Depot Hill house burns for the second time in just over a month

The Arthur St house in Depot Hill burned for the second time in as many months Thursday morning

The first a Depot Hill resident knew of the blaze next door was early Thursday morning was another neighbour calling out to borrow the hose from his back yard.

About two o’clock in the morning the man heard someone calling out about the hose; the house was still smouldering when police began their investigation later that morning.

It was the same Rockhampton address where a teen was afflicted with smoke inhalation following a previous fire just last month.

The house has been even more extensively damaged by the latest blaze, with the neighbour conjecturing it may contain asbestos.

He said the landlord, who lived away in Sydney, had not attempted to repair the house since last month’s fire, and there had been no sign of squatters living there.

Emergency services were called to the scene at 1.33am before three fire crews arrived on the scene and they left the premises at 3.43am.

A Queensland Police spokesman said the fire was being treated as suspicious but there had been nothing in their report to suggest criminal activity.

Meanwhile, a Queensland Fire Service spokeswoman said they believed no one had been living on the premises, and another source told The Morning Bulletin electricity had reportedly been cut from the property.