By SCOTT INGLIS
An arsonist may have torched a Birkdale man's home in retaliation for his putting out a real estate sign fire.
Police say they are lucky not to be investigating a homicide after Aaron Mahon suffered facial burns and smoke inhalation as he fled his blazing home early on Sunday.
The
29-year-old lost about $50,000 worth of uninsured possessions in the fire.
His nightmare began after he arrived home about 2 am by taxi and noticed a real estate sign on fire next to a fence across the road.
Mr Mahon stamped out the fire. As he crossed the road on his way home, he asked a man walking along the street if he knew anything about the fire. The man said "no" and disappeared up an alley.
Soon after, as Mr Mahon dozed on his couch, he heard an explosion.
Within minutes, the deck of his three-storey rented home was on fire and flames were licking around the windows, which began shattering.
His car, parked in a carport beneath the house, was destroyed.
Mr Mahon said it was lucky his partner, Sharis Webster, was at work and two children, aged 4 and 14, were not at home.
