By KATHRYN BERMINGHAM
POLICE investigators are treating a fire that destroyed a Pakenham rental property this morning as suspicious.
At 6.53am on Thursday 26 November, crews were called to a housefire on Smethurst Avenue in Pakenham.
The residents of the house, a 31-year-old woman and her children aged four and 18 months, all escaped the blaze and were checked over by paramedics at the scene, with the woman receiving oxygen to assist with breathing.
They had been sleeping in the lounge room due to last night’s heat.
A fuel-soaked rag was located at the side of the house, and both the occupant and neighbours reported being woken by large ‘bangs’.
It took 10 CFA vehicles and 25 members about an hour to bring the fire under control, by which time 90 per cent of the house and all of its contents had been destroyed.
The property is under police watch as investigators try to determine the circumstances of the blaze, and a Cardinia Shire building surveyor visited the site and deemed it fit for demolition.
There was no working smoke alarm in the house.
Anybody with information about the incident should contact CrimeStoppers on 1800 333 000.
