At around 7.30 am, the Fire and Rescue Service received a number of calls from people living in the Sydney Crill Park estate about a blaze which had broken out in a shed alongside a house.
But, within minutes, the fire spread to a heating-oil tank before rising up the side of the house, igniting the roof and causing it to collapse.
Burning oil then leaked into nearby drains with smoke and flames billowing out of manhole covers.
A resident of the estate, who did not wish to be named, described how he became aware that his neighbour’s house was ablaze. ‘It was about 7.40 am and I heard a lot of crackling and thought it was gardeners working outside,’ he said.
‘But then, as I looked through the window, I could see a huge load of black smoke and heard my neighbour on the phone to the emergency services.
‘It then got worse – I would say the flames were about 15 ft-high from the apex of the house and when it spread to the roof it was like an explosion. I have never seen a house fire before but within ten minutes the roof was gone.’
The St Clement parishioner also spoke of how he had urged the man not to go back into the house to rescue his dogs.
‘I could see him running in and I warned him not to go but he said his dogs were in there and you could hear them barking,’ he said.
‘He ran in got one out and then ran in and got the other out while the house was still alight and they are not small dogs.’
He also said that the affected homeowner had recently carried out a lot of work on his property before it caught fire.
‘We are all absolutely heartbroken for him. He seems to be devastated but I am pleased he managed to get his dogs out when it started to kick off.’
Due to the intensity of the blaze, after initially responding with two fire engines, a third, crewed by retained firefighters, was sent to the scene.
Jason Masterman, group commander for the Fire and Rescue Service, said it spread very quickly.
‘Due to the intensity of the fire in its early stages, it spread to the eaves of the roof and then spread extremely rapidly – it was quite a dramatic scene,’ he said.
‘We were working inside the house at the time but once a fire gets into the roof space it becomes much more dangerous and we had to withdraw.
‘I believe the owner had gone to work and had his two dogs in the property, which I am extremely happy to say are fine.’
During the fire, burning heating oil from the ruptured tank spilled into nearby surface water drains.
An Environment Department spokesman yesterday confirmed no oil had leaked onto the beach.
And an Infrastructure Department officer said the drains would be cleaned of any remaining oil.
The Fire and Rescue Service are now investigating the cause.
