St Albans house fire: One dead in horror blaze in Melbourne’s north-west

One person has been killed in a house fire in Melbourne’s northwest as the arson squad has launched an investigation.

Dozens of firefighters and emergency services rushed to the scene in St Albans at around 6.15am on Friday and arrived to find the house on Conrad Street fully alight.

Smoke and flames were billowing from the roof as the fire threatened neighboring properties.

Around thirty firefighters fought the fire for around twenty minutes before putting it out.

An occupant was extracted from the gutted house by firefighters wearing breathing apparatus.

They were treated on the spot by emergency services but could not be resuscitated.

The victim has not yet been formally identified by police.

A crime scene was declared as police blocked off the entire street.

Detectives from Victoria Police’s Arson and Explosives Squad attended the scene to investigate the fire and knocked on residents’ doors.

An arson chemist will attend the scene later Friday, police said.

The cause of the fire remains unknown.

The property was believed to contain amoebeta.

“In responding to a fire, there are always challenges such as falling debris from the affected structure, which creates many hazards, smoke is also a hazard…. It is always dangerous to enter a burning building,” FRV incident controller Nicholas Allen told reporters.

“This property was also considered to contain asbestos, so that was another risk they had to deal with.”

Shocked neighbors on quiet suburban street recall seeing a body being removed from home.

“I heard it this morning, but the firefighters came so quickly and got the situation under control, so I didn’t think it would be that bad,” one woman told the newspaper. Sun Herald.

“It’s just devastating, I didn’t know them because it’s several houses away but it’s so sad.”

Anyone with information is asked to contact police or Crime Stoppers.