Somerset community rocked after home destroyed in fiery blaze

Queensland Fire Department has responded to concerns of Somerset residents after a home was destroyed in a fiery blaze. See their response here.

A fire has destroyed a home in Somerset overnight with police deeming the fire as non-suspicious. Photo: Gary Jones/Facebook

A home in a tight knit community in South East Queensland has been ravaged by fire as emergency services rushed to the property.

Fire crews were called to an address on Third Ave in Somerset to reports of a house fire just before midnight on February 10.

Queensland Fire Department spokeswoman said crews arrived just after midnight to find the home fully engulfed in flames.

All persons were accounted for upon their arrival.

The QFD spokeswoman said fireys managed to contain the blaze at around 12.30am and remained on scene dampening down until just before 6am.

Queensland Ambulance paramedics were also called to the scene where one male patient was assessed and declined transport to hospital.

The incident has sparked controversy via social media, with some residents raising concerns over their lack of access to local rural firefighting equipment and the length of time it took fire crews to respond.

Queensland Fire Department has responded after Somerset Dam residents raised concerns over their response time and community access to firefighting resources. Picture Lillian Watkins

A QFD spokesman while the area is primarily serviced by Rural Fire Service Queensland, in the event of structural fires the nearest Queensland Fire and Rescue resources respond as the lead service.

“RFSQ volunteer members are not trained in internal structural firefighting roles but provide support to their QFR colleagues at these incidents,” the QFD spokesman said.

“Auxiliary firefighters and RFSQ volunteer members work on an on-call basis and respond to emergencies when demand arises.

“Only trained members of QFR and RFSQ are able to access and respond to jobs using equipment owned by these services. Members of the public are not allowed to access resources or equipment for their personal use.”

It’s understood three QFR and one RFS crew responded to the incident with the first to respond from Esk Auxiliary Fire and Rescue Station arriving 27 minutes after receiving the call.

“All active members of Mount Brisbane Rural Fire Brigade were paged to assist and those that were available, attended,” the QFD spokesman said.

“The cause of the fire remains under investigation and is undetermined at this time.”

Originally published as Somerset community rocked after home destroyed in fiery blaze