A neighbour has revealed the terrifying moment he saw a woman trapped inside a burning house in Melbourne's west — but could do nothing to help her.
Key points:
- Police have confirmed two people died in the fire
- Jemil, who lives next door, tried to help a woman gasping for breath at an upstairs window
- He said the flames were terrifying
Police have confirmed two people died in the suspicious fire in a two-storey townhouse on Totem Way at Point Cook around 3:30am.
The house was fully engulfed in flames, which were threatening adjoining homes, when fire crews arrived.
Jemil lives next door with his wife and five-month-old baby and said he saw a woman "frantically gasping for air" at a window inside the unit.
"We just threw an axe through the window, hoping that she'd climb out. One of us would catch her," he said.
"But as soon as we broke the window she went silent."
Firefighters found the bodies of two people inside.
Jemil said when his smoke alarm went off he and his partner grabbed their son and tried to get outside, where they were confronted with a "terrifying" scene.
"You could just see through his window massive flames coming out through the house," he said.
"We did try to do everything we could to get her out, me and a few of the other neighbours.
"But we smashed the garage door in, we opened the garage door leading into the house it was just engulfed in flames."
He said the couple had only lived in the house for about four weeks.
"It's kind of horrifying, a bit gruesome, I felt sick to the stomach knowing that there was someone in that house," he said.
The fire was 'raging' when crews arrived
Detective Senior Sergeant Mark Kennedy of the arson and explosives squad said police had been told there may have been other people living in the house.
He said it is possible there may be more victims.
"There is a mattress downstairs that looks like it's been slept in recently but there's no-one on that mattress," he said.
"We're still firming up, at this early stage, who and how many resided at the address."
The fire is being treated as suspicious because of the intensity of the flames.
"When Fire Services [Victoria] first got here it was fully engulfed," he said.
"The townhouse was raging, particularly at the front and upstairs.
"With accidental fires that doesn't normally occur. So we are treating it as suspicious at this early stage."
He paid tribute to neighbours who tried to help those trapped inside.
"It was a very brave and heroic effort. Sadly they did their best but the fire took hold and nothing could be done," he said.
One neighbour used a ladder to try to reach the woman, but was beaten back by the flames.
Neighbour Lockie Allen lives behind the townhouse and described a loud crash.
"It started off with sirens, obviously, then the crashing of what I assume was the roof," he said.
"I feel for those families that were involved."
Ashish Kumar said he and his wife had to move to the back of their home nearby because of the smoke.
"There was no ambulance so we thought there was no-one in the house," he said.
"But we saw them on the news that they found someone dead, which is pretty bad."
He said he had not met the neighbours because of the pandemic, but they had planned a get-together this weekend.
https://news.google.com/__i/rss/rd/articles/CBMiVWh0dHBzOi8vd3d3LmFiYy5uZXQuYXUvbmV3cy8yMDIwLTEyLTAyL29uZS1kZWFkLWluLXBvaW50LWNvb2stdG93bmhvdXNlLWZpcmUvMTI5NDE3MTbSASdodHRwczovL2FtcC5hYmMubmV0LmF1L2FydGljbGUvMTI5NDE3MTY?oc=5
2020-12-02 01:29:00Z
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