Wynnum house fire on Florence St destroys property

Footage has emerged of an ‘intense’ fire tearing through a house on Brisbane’s bayside, as neighbours report there had been squatters at the site for some time. WATCH THE VIDEO

Footage has emerged of a house on Brisbane‘s bayside going up in flames with the blaze blowing out windows and shocking local residents with its intensity.

The fire started at 10.30 this morning at Florence St, Wynnum with 10 crews from the Queensland Fire and Emergency Services called to the scene and finding a home engulfed in flames.

House fire on Florence St, Wynnum.

A neighbour said he had been concerned about the possibility of a fire for some time, with squatters at the home for as long as a year.

A QFES spokesman said the fire started on the second level of the two-storey timber home, which is abandoned.

Wynnum station officer David Beutel said the size of the fire was obvious before they even arrived on the scene.

“We did notice there was a large, large plume of brown smoke, so we had multiple resources coming to the incident,” he said.

“Our initial priority was to prevent the fire from spreading to other adjacent properties.”

A crime scene has been established at a house fire on Florence Street, Wynnum. Picture: Patrick Woods.

Police were already on the scene, with one officer hosing down an adjacent home.

Neighbour Corey Gillis said he had been reporting squatters at the abandoned property to council and police for 12 months.

“All the neighbours down here, they’re all the same ... they knew it was going to happen.”

A crime scene has been established at a house fire on Florence Street, Wynnum. Picture: Patrick Woods.

He said squatters have been there every night breaking glass and causing damage since it was recently purchased by a family that have left it “abandoned” and “derelict”.

Council records show the Trustee for the Spragg Family, Tanks Alot Australia recently appealed Council’s denial of a development application which would include demolishing the property.

There is no suggestion of wrongdoing by the new owners.

A crime scene has been established at a house fire on Florence Street, Wynnum. Picture: Patrick Woods.

Mr Gillis said he had been told three young people had been arrested after a large group were at the home on Thursday night.

“Apparently late last night there were about a dozen of them out here causing a bit of a scene.”

Late on Friday night, a police spokesman said three juveniles were initially taken into custody but only two were cautioned.

“A 15-year-old girl and a 13-year-old girl were dealt with under the provision of the youth justice act,” he said.

Mr Buetel could not confirm the arrest but said the fire investigation unit were active and police had declared a crime scene.

“I haven’t spoken with police about that but a crime scene has been established.”

Another resident said they struggled to breathe and the house was severely damaged.

“I only stayed about two minutes as the toxins from the smoke was intense,” she said.

“The windows were all blowing out, I had to leave as it was hard to breathe.”