Father and son, Calvin and Brendon Reeder, killed in Donvale house fire

Friends have paid tribute to a devoted father, who died alongside his teenage son in a horror fire at their Donvale home, describing him as “the epitome of a good neighbour”.

Police at the scene where a father and son died in a house fire on Craig Rd, Donvale. Picture: Ian Currie

A “loving” father and his teenage son died in a horrific blaze at their Donvale home early on Saturday morning.

Single dad Calvin Reeder and his son, Brendon, were inside their Craig Rd home when a fire broke out about 4am.

Fire crews arrived to find the property engulfed in flames and “aggressively attacked” the blaze for half an hour before they brought it under control.

Upon extinguishing the fire, two bodies were found inside the property.

Shocked friends and neighbours of the pair gathered outside their home throughout the day as emergency services investigated.

Neighbour and former deputy youth premier of Victoria Angelo von Moller described Mr Reeder as the “epitome of a good neighbour”.

Calvin Reeder died in a fire at his Donvale home. Picture: Hamish Blair

His son, Brendon Reeder, was also killed in the fire. Picture: Supplied

“(He was) a man who was always there to help if you needed it, whether it was just to have a chat, or to help build something in the garden,” Mr von Moller said.

“He was always there for our community. He was a loving father to his autistic son, Brendon.”

Calvin’s brother, Mark Reeder, arrived at the scene in the afternoon and said the fire was a “tragic accident” that “didn’t need to happen”.

“I lost a brother and a nephew at the same time,” he said.

“He (Calvin) had a heart of gold, he’d do anything for anybody.

“He loved his son, and he’d do anything he could for his son.”

Mr Reeder read about the fire in the news just before police knocked on his door to inform him of what had happened.

“I already knew, I’d rung his number … he wouldn’t answer his phone, the phone didn’t even ring, it’s not hard to put that together.”

Mr Reeder advocated for his community in 2019 about the dangers of people letting off fireworks around bushfire-prone areas.

He told News Corp’s Leader newspaper at the time that he was concerned about fireworks being set off in the street.

“My concern is that it will start a bushfire and destroy people’s property or kill someone,” Mr Reeder said.

Fire Rescue investigators and forensic teams at the scene. Picture: Ian Currie

A neighbour says she woke to what sounded like a car crash. Picture: Ian Currie

A friend of Mr Reeder said he was “very shocked” when he saw smoke coming from the home on Saturday morning.

“I just feel gutted, devastated … it’s just been flattened.”

Neighbour Diane McCartin said she was woken by the sound of explosions so loud she thought it was a car crash.

“I noticed the light of the flames through the window,” she said.

“(Mr Reeder) was just a regular Aussie guy, he worked on the oil rigs and had to retire because of an ankle injury, and he was doing his best to raise his autistic son.”

Ms McCartin said Mr Reeder was a single dad who would always help people.

Another neighbour Alex McCartin said he tried hosing the flames but the fire was too big for it to make much difference.

“I woke up to a strange crackling noise and when I looked outside our window and the whole trees and everything was this glowing orange flickering colour,” Mr McCartin said.

“We tried hosing, tried to stop it from spreading before the fire pump got here, but it was essentially an inferno by that point, the flames were three, four metres above the roof of the house by that point and there were a number of explosions.

“The next bang that came after that was a real deep, shaking the windows kinda boom — it was pretty obvious something was very wrong.”

Police outside the home at Craig Rd. Picture: Ian Currie

Emergency services at the scene of the fire. Picture: Ian Currie

A Victoria Police spokeswoman said a crime scene has been established and it was expected detectives and an arson chemist would attend the property, as investigations into the cause of the fire continue.

“The fire has been deemed non-suspicious,” she said.