TWO houses in the hills were burnt to the ground in devastating fires last week.
Firefighters from Kallista, Monbulk, Sassafras and The Patch were first called to a fire in Ramsay Street, The Patch, about 3pm last Monday.
On Wednesday, about 1.15pm, firefighters from Sassafras, Olinda, Upwey, Belgrave, Upper Ferntree Gully, Bayswater and Yellingbo battled a blaze at a property on Mast Gully Road, Ferny Creek.
In both instances, the houses were already fully alight by the time firefighters arrived.
Both burnt to the ground despite the quick response from the firefighters and took about 20 minutes to contain.
Kallista firefighter Paul Marks, who was in charge of the fire at The Patch, said by the time firefighters arrived, the house had potentially been alight for a long time before it was reported.
“It sounds like the house was quite closed up, so the fire probably intensified in the house for a period of time before it burst out, which explained why the house was fully alight before we arrived,” he said.
Nobody was at home during the incident.
Sassafras firefighter Geoff Pfeifer said the fire in Ferny Creek was reported by a neighbour, despite the occupant of the house being home at the time.
The cause for both fires was believed to be electrical faults in the kitchen.
Mr Marks and Mr Pfeifer praised everyone for their work.
“Crews did a great job,” Mr Pfeifer said.
“It was too late by the time we got there, we weren’t going to save anything, but they did a great job.”
