Police examine house fire
AUTHORITIES will try to determine what started a fire which destroyed a Wood St, Rockhampton home Monday morning.
Late Monday afternoon a police spokesman said the fire was not being treated as suspicious, though the cause was yet to be determined.
It took only a matter of minutes for the blaze to destroy the rental property, which was left little more than a burnt-out shell.
The fire follows one last week in which single mother of seven Michelle Tuarki's Kawana house was badly damaged.
Firefighters were Monday afternoon keeping a close watch on the Wood St property to make sure no hot spots reignited.
Rockhampton fire station officer Greg Watts said by the time firefighters were on scene the house was in flames.
He said crews fought hard to save neighbouring properties.
"They were hard pressed to start with to protect those exposures on either side which were starting to catch on fire as well," he said.
"Crews did a magnificent job to protect these houses."
He said firefighters were told on arrival no one was inside.
"The police were on scene before we were and they did an excellent job in getting the dogs out."
He said firefighters had problems getting enough water to battle the blaze.
Additional crews were brought in from the Rockhampton Airport and Gracemere.
Firefighters had a battle to keep gas cylinders in the area cool and away from the fire's heat, and a gas line servicing the house also caused problems.
Some residents expressed concern about the length of time it took firefighters to arrive on scene.
A fire spokesperson said they were there four minutes after the call.
