A man has died while a young woman was taken to hospital with severe burns to 40 per cent of her body after a horror fire engulfed a unit complex.
The fire broke out in a unit at the rear of a small apartment complex in Amelia St, Albion in Brisbane’s north-east, about 4.30pm on Thursday.
Emergency services rushed to the scene, where firefighters spent half an hour battling the blaze.
After the fire was extinguished, the body of a man was found in the gutted living room.
A woman, 33, was removed from the burning house and treated on the footpath by paramedics for advanced care for burns to the face, hands and respiratory tract.
She was heard screaming as she was carried into an ambulance before being taken to the Royal Brisbane and Women’s Hospital in a serious condition under lights and sirens.
A man is dead and a woman suffered serious burns at a unit complex in Brisbane’s north-east
The fire brigade spent more than half an hour fighting the inferno
“Tragically, the body of a man has been located within the unit proper, the crime scene has been declared and inquiries are ongoing,” Detective Inspector Steve Crabbe said.
It is understood the injured woman told neighbors she was sleeping in the unit at the time before being woken up by the flames surrounding her.
Queensland Fire and Emergency Services Chief Inspector Graeme Hall described the fire as a ‘very intense fire’ and completely destroyed the living area of the unit.
Shocked neighbors recalled seeing the complex completely engulfed in flames and a woman’s panicked screams that someone was still in the burning house.
“There were flames coming out of the door, I ran to the front of the door at the bottom of the stairs,” a man told police. Courier mail.
“The occupant of the house, the woman, ran into the road, fell at the end of the driveway, with another woman tending to her, men running around looking for snakes.”
The complex suffered extensive damage (photo) during the fire on Thursday afternoon
Others feared the fire would spread to neighboring properties.
“It sounded like they were throwing things into the back of a car, metal, the woman kept screaming,” one woman recalled.
“When I came out I saw the flames at the back of the property and I thought my house was going to catch on fire.”
The street was cordoned off with police tape while police set up a crime scene.
Firefighters warned residents in the area to stay indoors and close windows and doors to avoid inhaling the smoke.
The investigation into the cause of the fire is still ongoing.
The fire is currently considered suspicious.
“Police are working to establish the circumstances of the fire and are appealing for anyone with information to come forward,” a statement said.
One man has died after a fire at an apartment complex in the Brisbane suburb of Albion