Fire guts home as pair shelter

A VINCENT couple has been left homeless after their home was gutted by fire while they were hunkering down for Cyclone Debbie.

The Charles St home was ablaze in the early hours of yesterday morning, with the first Triple- 0 calls made at 1.22am. The residents were sheltering in the bottom half of the house in preparation for cyclone conditions when the fire started.

Neighbours Wayne Munt and Maureen Lucas woke to the sound of the house on fire, initially thinking the noise was cyclonic winds picking up.

“I don’t sleep with aircon or anything so I heard it,” Mr Munt said.

“I got up and I’ve seen the glow and I called Triple- 0. They ( the residents) were camped underneath in preparation for the cyclone.

“It’s really lucky they weren’t upstairs at the time.”

Mr Munt said they had to move their bird cages to save them because the flames were getting close.

“It was lucky that wind was going the way it was,” he said.

“No other houses got any damage.”

Four firefighting crews attended the blaze and firefighters were able to contain it soon after 2am, but the home was gutted.

The fire happened just streets away from where a Townsville home was destroyed by a blaze in November last year.

No other houses were damaged during the fire.

Firefighters attended the house a second time when it reignited during the afternoon to dampen down hot spots.