Police have arrested a man after three suspicious fires tore through Melbourne’s east overnight, leaving one building extensively damaged and two more scenes scorched in a rapid series of incidents that has gripped investigators. The 41-year-old, who has no fixed address, is now set to be interviewed by detectives as police probe why the blazes were deliberately lit.
The first fire broke out at an unoccupied premises at 157 Springvale Road, Nunawading 3131 about 11:15pm, with no one inside when the blaze took hold. The old furniture building was extensively damaged, turning a quiet stretch of road into a scene of smoke, chaos and flashing emergency lights.
A short time later, two more suspicious fires were reported on Doncaster Road in Doncaster, where a fence and nearby bushes were damaged. The closeness of the three fires has added to the urgency of the police investigation, with detectives examining whether the incidents were linked.Officers arrested the man nearby in Balwyn North after the overnight incidents. He is expected to be interviewed by Boroondara Crime Investigation Unit detectives in relation to all three fires.
The speed of the police response suggests investigators moved quickly to contain the threat and secure a suspect while the scene was still fresh. The official account says the man will now face questioning as police work through the evidence.
By sunrise, the aftermath would have been stark: blackened property, damaged vegetation and the lingering smell of smoke hanging over the suburb. Crime scene photographer Lord Murray Schoorman of Peak Hour Images attended early and documented the scenes before investigators began their painstaking work.
The fires have left residents confronting a familiar but unsettling question, whether the night’s destruction was random, reckless or part of something more calculated.
