Police still searching for family of fatal Waanyarra house fire victim
Police have not been able to contact the family of a victim killed in a horrific blaze in north-central Victoria.
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Volunteer firefighters desperately tried in vain to save a person trapped in their burning home in north-central Victoria in March.
But more than 100 days after the fatal Waanyarra fire, police are no closer to identifying person killed in the horrific fire that gutted the rural home and shed.
Victoria Police said officers were still searching for the next of kin of an unidentified person, nearly four months after their body was found in a burnt home at Waanyarra, 50km west of Bendigo.
The rural home and shed was engulfed in flames when Country Fire Authority crews arrived the Bridgewater-Dunolly Rd property at 11.55pm on Tuesday March 30.
A Country Fire Authority spokesman said four crews, from nearby Dunolly and Maryborough brigades, battled to extinguish the blaze.
Despite their efforts, they could not save the person trapped.
The person was declared dead about 12.30am on Wednesday March 31.
Police established a crime scene and forensic testing was conducted.
More than 117 days after the fatal blaze police have not been able to contact the deceased’s family.
A Victoria Police spokesman said they were still attempting to reach the next of kin, and had not yet exhausted all lines of contact.
“We are making numerous inquires in an effort to identify the deceased,” he said.
Police do not disclose the identity of a person, including their age and gender, until they contact their family.
He said the fire was not deemed as suspicious, but could not provide further details about the fatal blaze or its cause.
The CFA said help was offered for the volunteers who tried to save the Waanyarra fire victim.
Peer support teams are sent to help volunteers work through the trauma after major incidents, while a 24-7 Wellbeing Support Line is available to CFA members and their family.
It comes as the number of Victorians killed in house fires reaches a ten-year high.
Twenty-two people died in preventable house fires in 2020, an increase from 16 the year before, and above the annual average of 18.
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