TESS MALONEY recalls the terror she felt fleeing her burning home after arsonists struck on May 18.
Her car and front tree on fire, the infernal scene threatened to engulf the historic King William Street house the mediaveal history student shares with fellow students in South Fremantle.
A second car was on fire next door while a fire lit under her housemate’s car failed to catch.
Ms Maloney, 24, says the house would have burnt to the ground had it not been for the quick response of Freo’s firies, who were there within eight minutes.
They had been mopping up after another car fire in nearby Grey Street next to the L-3 Oceania site (formerly Nautronix).
“We are lucky to be alive,” Ms Maloney told the Herald.
She says arsonists tried unsuccessfully to torch her housemate’s locked car parked on the side of the road before lighting up her car parked under the balcony porch. That caught.
The fire was so intense it buckled the balcony and window frame of the front bedroom her room-mate was sleeping in. The interior of a third car next door was gutted.
“We were in shock,” she recalls, having returned to stay in the house for the first time this week.
“The fire melted the power line leading to the house, so at first we thought it was electrical. But we were told arsonists probably set fire to the upholstery in the cars.”
Ms Maloney says the housemates tried to fight the fire, “but we couldn’t get to the tap because my car was parked next to the hose”. She fears a gang or group of arsonists is targetting cars and homes in the Fremantle and Cockburn areas. She approached the Herald hoping to contact anyone who could help police catch the culprits.
She also wants residents to take better precautions: “These guys are still out there,” she says. “We need to come together as a community to keep an eye out for anything suspicious.”
Accelerants used
Police say they don’t know whether the South Fremantle fires are linked to others in the area, nor if they were lit by the same people who torched six cars in Scarborough and Karrinyup on May 27. They suspect accelerants were used in this string of “completely random” attacks in which car windows were smashed and “petrol bombs” thrown in.
The car fires in South Fremantle were lit three days after arsonists attacked a Hilton house on May 15 (Herald, May 18, 2013). No-one was injured in that blaze but most of the building and its contents were destroyed.
These fires, just days apart, follow a string of deliberately lit blazes in Fremantle and Cockburn since the start of the year.
People with information are urged to call Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000. Rewards of up to $50,000 are offered for info leading to the conviction of arsonists.
February 27: Three males set fire to a power pole and median strip on Leach Highway in Willagee. A man confronts the men, who then walk away, setting fire to a nearby median strip. Police have released CCTV images of the trio.
March 28: A deliberately lit fire causes extensive damage to a gym at the Hamilton Hill shopping centre on Rockingham Road. The fire leaves a reported damage bill of $10,000.
April 10: Arson squad detectives investigate a fire at Muscle Worx on Rockingham Road in Spearwood. The blaze causes $50,000 damage to the fitness supplements shop which has since been rebuilt.
May 15: A home in Winterfold Street, Hilton, is all-but destroyed.
May 18: A home and cars in King William Street, South Fremantle, are badly damaged.
by CARMELO AMALFI