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Firefighters say they are responding to fire activity at levels they “haven’t seen before” as another suspicious arson attack gutted two businesses in Melbourne’s west overnight.
Emergency services were called to a warehouse business premises on Hudsons Road in Spotswood around 2am on Tuesday after multiple residents reported hearing strange popping noises.
One resident, who didn’t want to be named, said she woke up to clouds of smoke rising from the area just before 2am. She said that in the time it took to call Triple Zero, the smoke quickly turned into bright orange flames.
“By the time the fire brigade arrived, it was an inferno. It was just mad,” she said. “Within 15 minutes, it went from crackling sounds and smoke to a full-blown fire.”
Speaking at the scene early on Tuesday morning, Assistant Chief Fire Officer Greg Christison said that while he understood the blaze to have been suspicious, he couldn’t comment on how it started.
“We had our fire investigation team attending earlier this morning, and we’re working very closely with Victoria Police to determine the cause of the fire,” he said.
“Upon arrival, our crews were able to identify a fire that was burning with some intensity, and we escalated our response very quickly. At the height of the fire, we had 14 fire appliances on the scene here with a number of specialist aerial appliances. We’ve had over 50 firefighters, and we still have some specialist equipment coming to the fire round here this morning.”
The blaze was brought under control around 4.45am with crews still on the scene to put out the “remaining pockets of fire”, he said.
“Unfortunately, two premises were completely gutted,” he said. A number of surrounding businesses were also impacted. Nine people were evacuated from the buildings.
Witnesses at the scene told this masthead that a car had been rammed into the front of a lawyer’s office operating at the site.
When asked to confirm how the arsonists gained entry to the factory, Christison said he couldn’t comment. “It’s too early in the firefight, but we are treating the fire as suspicious.”
“It’s our job as a fire service to protect the community from fire, and we’ve been very busy of late. I think we’ve all seen many media reports of the activity levels through Metropolitan Melbourne and surrounding suburbs.
“The activity levels at the moment are like we haven’t seen before.
“Our job, we’re ready to respond. Our crews are professionally trained, and that’s our job. So, we’ll always respond to fire. Frequency just varies depending on different circumstances and time of day, but our job is to protect the community from fire, and we do it very well.”
Police confirmed the offenders were seen fleeing the area in a ute, but the direction they fled in is unknown. Anyone with information is urged to contact Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000.
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