11.45am
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Firefighters believe a fire in a Kangaroo Flat could have been started with a child playing with a lighter.
Kangaroo Flat lieutenant James O'Brien said the CFA was yet to confirm the cause.
"The cause is yet to be determined but is believed to possibly be a child with a lighter," he said.
"It's early days. We can see where the spread of the fire has come from the lounge room area but we have further investigations to do.
"It's not being treated as suspicious. Police were on scene in an informal capacity. We had a sergeant that was off duty on scene and police arrived shortly after we did."
CFA units arrived on scene at 10am to see the left side of the house engulfed in flame.
"On arrival, the left hand side of the house was fully involved," Lieutenant O'Brien said. "Within about 15 minutes we bought it under control and saved it from moving through the rest of the house.
"So the right hand of house is potentially salvageable in some way.
"There was a quick response from Kangaroo Flat, Bendigo and Golden Square. Golden Square have a large industrial fan to help ventilate the house, but with quick intervention we were able to save most of the house."
Two adults and four children were in the house when the fire started but raised the alarm and evacuated quickly.
"When we arrived we had residents who were inside and had exited the house," Lieutenant O'Brien said.
"There are no injuries at this stage. Ambulance came and cleared all the residents, and there are no injuries to firefighters or other support services."
Fire crews will remain on scene completing salvage operations.
"We are undertaking some salvage operations to save what we can and get personal effects for the residents," Lieutenant O'Brien said.
"We are also in the process, through council and DHS, of organising some emergency accommodation for family."
One other house was evacuated because of smoke from the fire.
"We did have some smoke go into a house next door (to the fire), which was natural with where the wind was going," Lieutenant O'Brien said.
"We cleared that house, did some investigations and found smoke inside but have since cleared it."
10.55am
Country Fire Authority crews are preparing to leave the scene.
The fire has been extinguished.
Paramedics are on scene, along with police and detectives.
However, the fire is not being treated as suspicious.
Earlier
EMERGENCY services are on scene of a house fire in Kangaroo Flat's McKenzie Street West.
Authorities were alerted to the blaze just after 10am on Monday.
Four Country Fire Authority tankers are at the scene, along with several units.
Police are also attending. Detectives are on scene.
McKenzie Street West is blocked off to traffic at Browning Street and Noble Court.
The house fire is now under control, but there remains a lot of smoke in the area.
Firefighters working on the property are wearing breathing apparatus.
More to come
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