Three children were playing with a cigarette lighter before they escaped a Melbourne house that erupted in flames on Monday afternoon.
Firefighters say the blaze in Ross Street, Huntingdale, extensively damaged the vinyl-clad dwelling, with the damage bill put at $400,000.
The home was owned by children’s grandparents, who had left earlier in the day for an interstate holiday. The youngsters were staying at the house with their parents.
“Despite the best efforts of firefighters, there is little left to salvage of the single-storey structure,” the Metropolitan Fire Brigade said in a statement.
“Later questioning of the children has revealed they had been playing with a cigarette lighter when the fire began.
“The father has now been left with the unenviable task of telling his parents, whose house they had been staying in, that their home is gone.
“The grandparents had left only hours earlier for an interstate holiday.”
Twenty firefighters attended the blaze.
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