Police are hunting for an arsonist who destroyed a home in Braybrook on Thursday night, severely damaging another.
The empty Hancock Street house was torched around 9pm, the fire jumping to a neighbouring home and destroying a caravan.
Early estimates put the damage bill at more than $250,000.
A neighbour told Channel 7 he had tried to fight the blaze with a garden hose.
“But it was too far gone in there, the black smoke was choking me so I had to get out,” the man said.
No one was hurt during the fire.
Star Weekly reported in September fears by neighbours that the derelict house was at risk of arson, after being taken over by squatters and attracting mountains of rubbish.
The Hancock Crescent house has been left derelict for more than two years despite regular complaints by residents to police and Maribyrnong council.
It had been attacked by taggers and has a number of smashed windows. The yard was used as a regular dumping ground.
Neighbour Denise Meredith said the house and property had dumped rubbish, used syringes and rats, and smelled of rotting and human waste.
She said Maribyrnong Council had been warned a number of times a fire was a real risk without the council’s intervention.
“We said this would happen. The neighbour warned about this and now his home has been damaged by the fire.”
