Fires raze homes

BALLARAT firefighters were kept busy on the weekend with two house fires within 17 hours.The first blaze destroyed a Sebastopol house on Saturday night, while the second left a Mt Clear property with extensive damage yesterday afternoon.The owners of the Sebastopol home only purchased the weatherboard property two weeks ago.They were believed to be out celebrating their engagement when the fire broke out.Fire crews arrived at the Queen St home around 11.30pm as neighbours battled the blaze with garden hoses and buckets.Neighbours Kevin and Stacey Mason said they heard several loud bangs around 11.30pm and looked out their window to see the home engulfed with flames.After calling triple 0, the couple used their garden hose to help prevent the fire from reaching their property."Other people were also helping out, grabbing their car and dogs for them," Mrs Mason said."But there was virtually nothing you could do, not with garden hoses."Police forensic teams from Melbourne were on site yesterday afternoon investigating the cause of the fire.Less than a day later, a young woman arrived home to find her Mt Clear home alight yesterday afternoon. The fire - which started around 4pm - took five fire trucks from Ballarat and Ballarat City 60 minutes to bring under control. It destroyed the roof of the Geelong Rd house and badly damaged two rooms. While the cause of the fire is yet to be determined, it is believed to have started at the rear of the unoccupied house.Fire crews were also called to Central Square about 9.30am yesterday after a compressor caught fire at Singapore Kitchen.