‘Suspicious’ fire tears through Porter Davis home after construction giant’s collapse

Authorities had been alerted to the fireplace at North Clyde within the metropolis’s south-east at 4.30pm on Monday, which detectives suspect was intentionally lit.

“The building on Adante Court was not occupied at the time and no one was injured,” Victoria Police mentioned in a press release.

“Investigations are ongoing into the cause of the fire, which is being treated as suspicious at this stage.”

The blaze comes amid a suspected rise in out-of-pocket tradies vandalising development websites after the collapse of Porter Davis houses, which went bust late final month.

The Melbourne-based development group, which boasts 470 workers and has greater than 1500 houses in progress, appointed Grant Thornton Australia as liquidators on March 31.

The directors for Porter Davis Homes mentioned there are 779 signed contracts with clients the place constructing has but to start.

Devastated clients at the moment are padlocking fences and putting in safety cameras to make sure their new houses aren’t focused.

In one incident, cabinetry was smashed, doorways scratched and faucets opened to flood a complete home in Berwick, in Melbourne’s south-east, that was simply days away from completion.

The residence which was engulfed by flames yesterday was simply days away from completion.

Today reporter Christine Ahern mentioned a younger household with three youngsters had been attributable to transfer into the house subsequent month. 

“I’ve been speaking to a neighbour who witnessed the whole thing,” she mentioned on 3AW.

“She said that she saw a man leave the property, she didn’t think too much of it because this a massive construction site.

“But moments after, she heard a bang after which the home was alight.

“She has told all of this to police – though she doesn’t know for sure, she believes it was a tradie.”

Ahern mentioned the home was sandwiched between two different Porter Davis houses.

“The outside two are steel-framed, the middle one that has gone up in flames is wooden-framed,” she mentioned.

“It’s only next month that the young family with three daughters were scheduled to move in here.” 

Homeowners with under-construction properties being dealt with by Porter Davis “are taking matters into their own hands” to make sure they do not develop into the subsequent victims of the alleged vandalism.

They’re padlocking properties, altering the locks and “doing their own surveillance”, Ahern mentioned.