A West Footscray woman is fighting for her life after she was rescued from her burning home on Thursday night.
MFB firefighters rescued the badly burnt and unconscious woman from the Barkly Street unit soon after the fire started just after 7.15pm.
The firefighters were on the scene in less than five minutes and provided emergency medical support for the woman until Ambulance Victoria arrived.
The woman, 52, sustained serious burns to about 40 per cent of her body and was taken to The Alfred hospital with life threatening injuries.
The fire is being investigated to see whether it was deliberately lit.
A man who kicked in a window in an attempt to rescue the woman sustained a severe laceration and was taken to hospital.
Fire crews also rescued a pet dog from the house and another in the backyard which had suffered a broken leg.
About 25 firefighters took 20 minutes to bring the blaze under control.
A bedroom was severely fire damaged with the remainder of the single storey unit affected by smoke and water.
Firefighters remained on scene overnight.
MFB’s Specialist Fire Investigators and detectives from Victoria Police’s Arson and Explosives Squad are investigating.
Detective Senior Constable Di Dale from the Arson and Explosives Squad said the fire broke out in a room at the front of the unit.
“It is confined to one area of the premises. The investigation is ongoing,” Detective Senior Constable Dale said.
“We are still investigating what has actually happened here, we don’t know the fine-grain details at this stage.
“We are still analysing the scene … we are making further avenues of inquiry.”
The incident follows another fire in West Footscray around 5pm on Wednesday.
Crews arrived at the fire on Geelong Road shortly after 5pm to find a brick veneer and weatherboard single storey house well alight.
The quick work of crews meant the fire was brought under control within five minutes of their arrival.
The fire was deemed suspicious and police are investigating.
