Mount Evelyn
3 Tuesday, 24 May, 2016
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Family left gutted By VICTORIA STONE-MEADOWS
CFA crews douse hot-spots in the aftermath of the fire to prevent any flare-ups. 154608 Picture: VICTORIA STONEMEADOWS
The house appeared to be completely engulfed in flames. 154499 anyone so she attempted to gain access to the house. “I tried to kick the fence down but it was all ring-locked,” she said. “I ran up the driveway on the other side and there was a lady and her twoyear-old and two dogs outside and unsure what to do. “She came running saying she needed to grab things so I said don’t worry about anything, grab the leads, I’ll grab the dogs, you grab your kid and lets go.” Ms Dight said she got the neighbours safely into their car and stopped traffic on Swansea Road to get the woman and child safely away from their neighbour’s burning house. Lt Simpson said it was great Ms Dight attempted to help before CFA crews arrived, but urged people not to
Picture: PAUL ELLIOTT
try to be a hero when fire was involved. “We encourage people to leave a burning property and not go back - I wouldn’t encourage people to play hero, the best thing to do is call triple zero and wait,” he said. “The best info we can have is eyes and ears from people here before us. In this scenario they made people aware there was a fire which is a good thing.” CFA District 13 Operations Officer Andrew Booth said the official investigation into what caused the fire was incomplete, but the CFA understood it was a heater left on that started the blaze. “The official report is still being done but we think it was a heater with clothes left drying in front,” he said. Mr Booth said drying clothes in front of a heater was a practice discouraged by the CFA.
The house in Mount Evelyn was left completely destroyed by the fire. 154608 Picture: VICTORIA STONE-MEADOWS “Everybody needs to be aware of clothes in front of heaters this time of year,” he said.
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TRAGEDY stuck a Mount Evelyn family on the morning of Friday 20 May when their family home was destroyed by fire. Emergency services attended the burning house shortly after 8am to find the weatherboard house completely engulfed in flames. Mt Evelyn and Lilydale CFA crews were initially called to the scene and before long crews from Mooroolbark, Montrose, Bayswater and Yellingbo were called to help fight the blaze. Ambulance and police as well as the power and gas company were called to the scene before a search of the property could be conducted. It is reported the house belonged to Mount Evelyn local Josephine Rega, who has lost all her possessions in the blaze. Swansea road between Hull Road and York Road was closed to traffic for several hours as a combined emergency services effort managed to get the fire under control. Incident controller Lieutenant Paul Simpson from Mount Evelyn CFA said it was lucky no-one was home during the fire. “The house was vacant - no-one was at the property and no animals inside the building at the time,” he said. Lt Simpson said the house was completely destroyed by the fire but there was no damage to neighbouring properties. “The house was fully involved and has been rendered non-liveable,” he said. “The floor collapsed, the roof collapsed, and the walls collapsed; the house is still standing but it is completely gutted.” Nearby neighbours were the first on the scene and made an effort to keep neighbours safe from the fire. Neighbour Stacey Dight was driving towards Lilydale at 8am when she saw the fire and turned around to do what she could to help. “I arrived about 8am and it was just smoke everywhere and a massive fireball,” she said. Ms Dight said she tried to yell into the property but got no response from
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