SES 'shattered' at loss of great mate in suspicious house fire
Updated
Queensland's State Emergency Service says it has been shattered by the death of one of its volunteers, who was killed in a suspicious house fire in Brisbane.
Graeme Thomson, 53, was one of three people who died in the blaze at Pavonia Street in Everton Hills on Tuesday morning.
Mr Thomson's former partner Ros and their son Dylan are also thought to have died during the fire.
"The Whitsunday SES family is shattered tonight, we have lost a great mate," the group said in a statement.
"So hard to believe that his smile, his mad humour, and endless positive energy is no longer with us. He turned the Airlie Beach Group into an active, fully functional team that felt very much like a family. We are going to miss him on many levels. Rest in peace Graeme."
Local SES controller Mark Connors said what Mr Thomson did during Cyclone Debbie last year was amazing.
"That group was cut off for about three days and Graeme just stood up and took charge," he said.
"They did some heroic stuff that I'm almost frightened to think about.
"They went and rescued a family from Shute Harbour.
"It took them an hour and a half to do a normal 15-minute journey cutting through all the fallen timber to get to Shute Harbour to recover an elderly couple from a collapsed house."
A major police investigation began immediately after Tuesday's fire was brought under control, with neighbours telling police they smelled fuel and heard yelling and explosions around the time the Pavonia Street home went up in flames.
Homicide detectives are heading up the investigation, while forensic experts, including the disaster victim identification squad, have been involved.
Mr Thomson's brother Mark told News Corp that Graeme was staying at the home in Brisbane's north to ensure his son would attend an upcoming court appearance.
"Graeme was a good man and would do anything for his kids," he said.
On Facebook, Mark Thomson said all three will be sadly missed.
"Our family will stick together through these hard times".
Topics: fires, disasters-and-accidents, law-crime-and-justice, crime, everton-hills-4053, qld, australia, brisbane-4000
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