By Tanya Faulkner
What started as a grass fire has now been deemed as suspicious by emergency services after an outbreak on Sunday morning.
At 4.01am on Sunday 5 February the Devon Meadows CFA, Pearcedale Fire Brigade, Clyde CFA, Cranbourne CFA, Tooradin Fire Brigade and Berwick CFA heavy pumper, along with FRV Cranbourne pumper 92, attended a grass and scrub undefined fire in the vicinity of Browns Rd and Craig Rd, Devon Meadows.
Incident Controller Mark Unwin CFA said he saw the blaze as he drove to the station and immediately knew it was more than a grass fire.
“I saw it was a structure fire as I drove past, and requested additional support crews as soon as I got to the station,” he said.
The fire was able to be seen from some distance away by responding crews as well.
While initial access to the property was difficult due to low tree branches and scrub requiring clearing with a chainsaw, and only a single track to the house, the responding crews were able to get a fire appliance up to the house and gained access from Browns Rd side.
“It turned into a defensive firefight with the purpose of protecting the surrounding grassland and properties” said Unwin.
With the support of FRV Cranbourne pumper 92, the fire was brought under control within 1.5 hours.
Due to the nature of the property there were large amounts of embers falling around the scene and neighbouring properties, so tankers were positioned strategically to monitor for other fire outbreaks.
Roads around the property were closed to all traffic due to the number of appliances involved in the incident, and to ensure the safety of the fire fighters. The scene was marked safe just after 8.00am with the last crews departing shortly after 10.00am.
The property and house involved in the fire was one of the first and largest in the area, dating back to the 1800s.
Unwin said this incident has been marked as suspicious, but was unable to make any further comments to the cause of the fire as it is now with Victoria Police for investigation.
