Greerton house fire treated as suspicious

A house fire which gutted a Greerton home and smashed windows of a neighbouring property on Tuesday night is being treated as suspicious.

Emergency services were called to the Greerton Rd home just before 7.30pm.

Northern Fire Communications shift manager Jaron Phillips said fire investigators returned to the scene Wednesday morning.

"They are treating the fire as suspicious and the scene has been handed over to police."

Jess Keane, 33, said her partner Jimmy Robertson, 31, was in the bathroom when he saw flames coming from the house behind them just after 7pm.

"He heard people running around the house," said Miss Keane.

"He looked out the window and said the house was just black."

Miss Keane said her partner Jimmy jumped the fence to alert the men inside the home.

"One man said, everything was okay, 'we have it under control'. It wasn't."

Miss Keane's partner phoned the fire brigade.

"We couldn't remember the neighbour's address so the firemen just came to our house.

"He was about to leave when we noticed the fire had reached our house. It was lucky he was still here because otherwise our house would've been gone."

Flames from the Greerton Rd home smashed windows and melted the guttering of Miss Keane's property, which she rents with her partner and two children. She said she had met the people living in the home behind them.

"They are really lovely and quite nice. They used to pick the grass for our rabbits."

The three occupants, who rented the home, said they were preparing dinner in the kitchen when the fire started.

One of the men went to his bedroom at the other end of the house where he saw the flames.

"There was so much heat, it felt like my hair was burning."

The man shouted to the others, who thought they could control the fire by pouring water on the flames. The men then attempted to remove a gas cylinder from the home.

"But when the flames reached the walls we couldn't do anything."

All three men managed to escape the house and waited at the driveway for emergency services to arrive.