'The windows were popping': Woman dies in West Footscray house fire
A disabled woman has died in a fire that ripped through a house in West Footscray on Sunday morning.
The MFB and paramedics arrived at the double storey brick home on Clive Street at 12.20am.
A 62-year-old died at the scene and an 69-year-old was taken to hospital with minor injuries.
Neighbour Nathan, who did not want to give his last name, told The Age he had woken to the sounds of windows exploding in the intense heat.
“The windows were popping, in the middle of the night I thought it was a burglary,” he said.
Nathan attempted to get into the house to help, but once he saw it was a fire he attempted to help control the blaze by spraying the side of the house with his garden hose.
“(She) was out of the house, she was very upset,” he said.
The blaze took a team of 40 firefighters about 40 minutes to bring under control.
Mark Abela, Detective Senior Constable for Footscray police, said one of the women died of smoke inhalation in her upstairs bedroom. He said emergency teams currently believe the fire was started by two portable heaters in the living room.
“We believe towels were near the heaters and that may have cause the fire to start,” Mr Abela said.
“We don’t know if it was gas or electric heaters at this stage.”
Neighbour Frank Forti saw smoke billowing from the rear of the house.
“There was so much fire and a bunch of smoke coming from the back of the house."
A woman "was screaming and screaming ‘My friend’s up there, my friend’s up there!’,” he said.
Fire investigators are on the scene.
Some residents have been told there was a loud bang after a towel was left over a heater. They believe the fire started on the bottom floor.
Nathan said the two women were very involved with a local church, going on overseas trips and collecting donations in their house.
"Nice ladies," he said.
Neighbour Simon Walshe helped the women out occasionally, once mowing their lawn. “We are a tight-knit community, it’s very sad,” he said.
Mr Walshe watched the fire trucks put out the flames.
“The fireys got onto it pretty quickly, they were here in five minutes.
“The paramedics were comforting one of the women. She seemed not to be on oxygen or anything, just in shock.”
Pete Renwick who lives several houses down said the two had difficultly moving around, however, they were regularly visited by members of their church group.
Clive Street resident Clare Simons said the pair were rarely seen.
“I never saw them before. I came out about 1 or 2am and they had one woman sitting on the corner in a camping chair."