Apartment fire leads to arson arrest

Apartment fire leads to arson arrest

A 52-year-old man has been charged with arson following an apartment fire on Balmain Road in Leichhardt around 5.30pm on Saturday, March 20, which left another man with burns to 18 per cent of his body.

The victim, described as being in his early 20s, is in a serious but stable condition at Concord Hospital after receiving burns to his arm and shoulder, say police.

The older man is receiving treatment at Royal Prince Alfred Hospital, with his condition unknown at the time the Independent went to print.

Minutes before the fire, a man fitting the description of the accused was seen leaving the unit.

Witnesses described him as Caucasian, with an Akubra and a ponytail.

A neighbour, who asked to remain anonymous, rescued the man from the burning apartment, and helped carry him down the stairs, where others tended to the victim with wet cloths and water.

Neighbour Mike Watson was washing his dog when he heard the screaming. “At first I thought it was a fight, but there was a guy on the stairwell who was badly burned so I rushed back in, threw the towels in the bath and threw them out the window onto this guy,” he said.

Four fire engines arrived to put out the blaze, which residents say engulfed the entire apartment within five minutes of the victim’s screams – the first warning they had of the emergency.

“The fire started in the lounge room and the unit has been gutted,” said Leichhardt Police Inspector Sean Daley. “Six people self-evacuated [from the neighbouring units] and are not returning to the building tonight.”

The adjacent unit suffered minor burn and smoke damage, and two lower units of the two-storey building suffered water damage.

“Air conditioning vents carried the fire through to the other units,” said Fire Brigade Sydney Duty Commander Graham Webb. “They could have easily lost the top half of the building.”

The unit’s sole occupant, a woman in her mid-30s, was not home during the incident and is assisting police with their investigation.

Residents say the unit was the target of a police raid about three weeks ago.

The exact cause of the fire was unknown after a preliminary inspection by the Fire Brigade and reports by a fire investigation unit and police forensic unit are pending.

This is the second serious residential fire in Leichhardt in a week, following an explosion in a Hawthorne Street house the previous Sunday.

by Lawrence Bull

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