Police treating blaze as suspicious, trapped woman dies inside

A woman has died in a suspicious house fire in Melbourne’s west overnight. Emergency services were called to the blaze in Truganina just after 2am.

Transcript

00:00Well, a three-story house was engulfed in flames in Traganana early this morning.

00:09It took about an hour to bring the blaze under control, and authorities arrived just before

00:142.30 this morning.

00:17One female occupant did die at the scene.

00:19We now know her to be a 28-year-old Hoppers Crossing woman.

00:24She was a relative of the family that owns the house, a couple.

00:29She was actually house-sitting for them while they were on their honeymoon.

00:32Police are treating the fire as suspicious, and they believe it was a targeted attack.

00:38Police believe that two males were in a car.

00:41They drove up to the home and poured accelerant, setting it alight before there was an explosion.

00:48And then they escaped the area.

00:50And we have actually heard from police.

00:52They said that she died at the scene, and they said it was suspected it was a case of

00:59mistaken identity.

01:00Neither the woman nor the family were known to police, so here's what they had to say.

01:06She was just house-sitting.

01:07In fact, she's the type of girl who doesn't leave home very much.

01:11It was probably her first time really away and by herself, house-sitting for her brother

01:17who's on a honeymoon, and she's been subjected to the most appalling, despicable act one

01:25could imagine.

01:26So what happens now, Natasha?

01:28Well, one house was evacuated, the one right next door.

01:32They've now been let back into their home just a few hours ago.

01:36Fire Rescue Victoria is still on the scene.

01:38They've been here this whole morning putting out spot fires.

01:42And Victoria Police is, of course, investigating the incident.

01:45They're scouring CCTV footage, and they're calling anyone with information to come forward.