By Cameron Houston, Cassandra Morgan and Sherryn Groch
An exploding gas bottle is thought to be the cause of a townhouse blaze that has left a woman and her two young daughters fighting for their lives.
The trio were carried unconscious from the suspicious house fire on Terrigal Street in Chadstone, in Melbourne’s south-east, about 10pm on Wednesday.
A crime scene has been established at a Chadstone home after a suspicious blaze.Credit: Paul Jeffers
As flames climbed through the roof, firefighters forced their way into the home and found a 37-year-old woman and her primary school aged girls huddled together and unconscious in an upstairs bedroom. They carried them to safety, but all three remained in a critical condition in hospital on Thursday morning after suffering burns.
Victoria Police have taped off the damaged townhouse as a crime scene and brought in an arson chemist to investigate the suspicious blaze.
Detective Inspector Chris Murray said police were speaking with the fourth occupant of the house, a 36-year-old man, but he is currently not being treated as a suspect.
The man was not home at the time of the fire and Murray would not say how he was related to the injured trio.
“We believe it was a gas cylinder inside the house that caused the explosion,” Murray said.
He did not say why police were treating the fire as suspicious, but he praised the heroic efforts of firefighters to save the family inside.
The blaze engulfed the bedrooms and upstairs ensuite, causing the roof to partially cave in.
Neighbour Andrew Kapuduwa said he first saw the smoke when his house shook with “an explosion of some sort” as he and his family were going to bed. They raced over to the house.
The woman and two girls were asleep in an upstairs bedroom.Credit: Nine
“We knew the family so we tried to open the front door… but it was too hot,” Kapuduwa said. “It was a huge fire. There were no cries for help or anything.”
Neighbour Tom Walter said emergency sirens woke him as smoke billowed through the street. Out the window, he saw “a large fireball” engulfing the house.
Fire ripped through the townhouse, predominantly damaging the property’s rear.Credit: Paul Jeffers
Fire Rescue Victoria commander Paul Eckholdt said firefighters were forced to navigate through hot conditions and “virtually zero visibility” to find the woman and two children.
“Our first crews were quickly informed by residents that there were four occupants of that house, that were unaccounted for,” Eckholdt told ABC Radio Melbourne.
Emergency services remained at the scene on Thursday.Credit: Paul Jeffers
“[The woman and two children] were unconscious, so they were carried out and taken out the front [for] first aid and medical treatment.
“They did have some burns, and they also had some airway burns as well.”
The woman was taken to The Alfred hospital in a critical condition, while her two daughters were taken to the Royal Children’s Hospital. As of Thursday afternoon, their conditions were stable.
Kapuduwa said the family in the house kept to themselves mostly, but had seemed happy, recently celebrating birthdays. He and his family were still shaken, he said, as investigators combed over the house on Thursday morning.
Members of the arson and explosives squad removed several bags of evidence from the property.
The fire destroyed a bedroom at the back of the townhouse.Credit: Paul Jeffers
At the peak of the blaze, 30 firefighters and 11 trucks were on site. Crews brought the fire under control about 10.15pm, and stayed at the townhouse overnight to extinguish hotspots.
Specialist Fire Rescue Victoria investigators will also look into the cause of the suspicious blaze.
The woman and girls are fighting for their lives in hospital.Credit: Paul Jeffers
Police urged anyone with footage of the fire to contact Crime Stoppers.
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