Shock fire deaths
NEIGHBOURS SHOCKED BY TRAGIC DEATHS
OCEAN Grove has been rocked by the tragic deaths of a father and son in a “ferocious” early morning house fire.
Police and the CFA were called to a Powell St West home about 4am yesterday, arriving to find the two-storey home engulfed in flames. Two bodies were found inside after crews extinguished the fire.
They are understood to be those of occupants David Solo, 57, and his 90-year-old father, Paul.
Shocked neighbours spoke affectionately of the father and son, describing a well-liked pair who mostly kept to themselves.
OCEAN Grove has been rocked by the tragic deaths of a father and son in a “ferocious” early morning house fire.
Police and the CFA was called to a Powell St West home about 4am yesterday, arriving to find the two-storey home engulfed in flames.
Two bodies were found in the home after crews extinguished the fire. They are understood to be those of occupants David Solo, 57, and his 90-year-old father Paul.
“At this stage the father and son occupants of the house are unaccounted for, and we believe they are the persons involved in the fire,” Geelong CIU detective Senior Sergeant Simon Keogh said.
Emergency services were retrieving the bodies yesterday to confirm the identities through forensic testing.
“At this stage there’s nothing to say this fire is a suspicious fire,” Sen-Sgt Keogh said.
CFA District 7 duty officer Wayne Almyer said CFA members arrived at the “confronting” fire just six minutes after receiving calls from neighbours.
“There were two rooms at the back of the house which were less affected by fire at the time, and our crews have made a pretty heavy entry into those rooms to see if they could find any occupants of the home,” Mr Aylmer said.
“When they went in there the environment was very hot, the smoke was down to the ground level, so they had no visibility. They searched those two rooms and determined there was no one in those two rooms, and the rest of the structure they weren’t able to get in to.
“So they retreated out to an external fire attack, and at that stage the second storey of the house has collapsed to ground level, and they continued with an external attack until such time as it was under control — which was about 30 minutes later.
“It was a very ferocious scene when they arrived on scene, so for our guys it would have been very confronting.”
Mr Aylmer said there was evidence of a lounge room fire place at the property, but was unable to say what had caused the fire.
Shocked neighbours spoke affectionately of the father and son yesterday, describing a well-liked pair who mostly kept to themselves.
Neighbour Alex McLachlan was left stunned by the fatal fire. “I’m absolutely shocked,” Mr McLachlan said. “I knew them quite well; I spoke to David during the week.
“They kept to themselves quite a bit, but they were friendly people.
“It’s the greatest shock that I can recall in this area in many, many years.”
Neighbours described both Paul and David as academics who loved music, with the pair owning a collection of “hundreds, if not thousands” of vinyl records.
Paul Solo was formerly a teacher at Drysdale Primary School.
Mar-Ray Simons said the town would be left devastated by the deaths of the well-liked men. “They’ve lived in Ocean Grove forever, 50 or more years, and they’ve been a very private family, a very well known locally family, kept to themselves, walked down the street every day, always together until recently when the father got a little older,” Ms Simons said through tears.
She said it would be a small comfort that the pair had died together.
The men are survived by David’s younger brother Jamie. It’s believed their mother died some years ago.
“It’s the greatest shock that I can recall in this area in many, many years.” — NEIGHBOUR ALEX McLACHLAN (left)
“It was a very ferocious scene when they arrived ... so for our guys it would have been very confronting.” – CFA DUTY OFFICER WAYNE AYLMER (right)