Woman, daughter flee from Wurtulla house fire, man in custody

A Sunshine Coast mum has revealed the moment she woke up to her neighbour’s screams after her car and home were set on fire, forcing her and her young daughter to flee from their house.

A distraught Sunshine Coast mother has revealed her heartache after losing her home, her possessions and her brand new car in a suspicious fire.

The Wurtulla woman and her three-year-old daughter narrowly escaped the inferno that engulfed her Baroona St home while they slept in the early hours of Wednesday morning.

The mother, who asked not to be identified, spoke to this publication while her and her sister tried to salvage what they could from the home on Wednesday afternoon.

She said she lost her house, all of her property, and a brand new Hyundai Elantra she recently purchased.

She recounted the frantic moments she woke up to her neighbour’s screams after they saw her house on fire.

“By the time I had woken up my house was already on fire,” she said.

A Sunshine Coast home was set alight this morning while a mother and her three-year-old daughter slept inside. Picture: Patrick Woods

She said she grabbed her child and immediately ran outside, before she returned to save her other daughter’s ashes.

“I went back to grab them out and the rest just seemed irrelevant at the time,” the mother said.

“There were all these explosions.

“I don’t know what I did to deserve any of this.”

A Queensland Fire and Emergency Services spokeswoman said four crews were called to a house fire just before 6am.

All occupants, a man, woman and her three-year-old daughter, managed to escape and were unharmed.

Firefighters extinguished the blaze but adjoining residents were evacuated due to the smoke.

A Queensland Police Service spokeswoman said they were treating the fire as suspicious and a man was in custody.

A Sunshine Coast home was set alight this morning while a mother and her three-year-old daughter slept inside. Picture: Patrick Woods.

As of Wednesday afternoon, no charges had been laid.

Sunshine Coast Detective Acting Senior Sergeant Chris Duhig said the fire started when a vehicle caught a blaze in the garage – which then spread to the house.

“Down the road from that incident a male person was located and police spoke with that male person,” he said.

The house fire in Wurtulla erupted just before 6am.

Police found three loaded firearms in his vehicle, which was about 1km from the house fire.

The vehicle, a blue Holden ute with Victorian number plates, was parked 100m from the scene with noticeable damage to the front bonnet and was missing a tyre from its front left rim.

The vehicle where firearms were allegedly found in following a house fire at Wurtulla on Wednesday. Picture: Sam Turner

Sergeant Duhig said scientific police were assisting with investigations at the scene.

“Witness accounts have put a person in the car port where the fire was initially lit … the angle that we’re taking is that there is a suspect,” Sergeant Duhig said.

Police confirmed the man in custody, the alleged suspect, was known to the woman, her three-year-old daughter and police.

“It doesn’t appear at this point to be a domestic violence targeted offence,” Sergeant Duhig said.

When the woman called emergency services for help she reported seeing a man in the garage before he fled the scene.

“They’re traumatised, they’ve have lost their home, and belongings,” Mr Duhig said.

The home wasn’t completely gutted but was uninhabitable.

Detective Acting Senior Sergeant Chris Duhig speaks to the media about the fire. Photo: Patrick Woods.

Mr Duhig said the mother was angry and distressed.

“She believes the fire was deliberately lit,” he said.

The woman choked back tears on Wednesday as she said she spent her whole life saving for the new car which was torched.

“Everything I own is gone, and for what?

“I did nothing … I work hard and I don’t deserve this.”

“I felt like [the car] was the biggest achievement … I never thought I would achieve that and it’s gone.”

She said the car was not insured as she had only just purchased the vehicle recently.

The woman had to buy clothes for her and her daughter as they fled their home in their pyjamas, leaving all of their possessions inside the blaze.

Police set up a crime scene at the home. Picture: Patrick Woods.

Neighbours spoke to this publication about witnessing the fire as it erupted early Wednesday morning.

One neighbour saw the moment when the fire spread from the car onto the house while he assisted the woman and her child on the street outside.

Another resident said she heard noises from the tyres and then a “massive big bang” before she realised the fire in her street.

The woman said she came outside to find “black smoke billowing” and “big flames” shooting upward from the car.

“It was going off like gun fire,” she said.

Originally published as Woman, daughter flee from Wurtulla house fire, man in custody