By Ben Cameron
Police believe four suspicious fires within a week at vacant buildings in the Braybrook and Footscray area could be linked.
Maribrynong detectives are investigating a fire at an unoccupied, double-storey unit in Errol Street, Braybrook about 11pm on June 4, which came after two fires the previous night.
One fire gutted a vacant house in Balmoral Street, Braybrook just after 2am on June 3. The house is expected to be demolished.
There was also a blaze at a house in Ballarat Road, Footscray about 11pm on June 2, which took 23 firefighters
35 minutes to control.
The house, which had a for sale sign at the front, was believed to have been vacant at the time of the blaze, which caused about $150,000 worth of damage.
The latest fires came after two men were seen running from a fire at an unoccupied unit in Empire Street, Footscray about 9.30pm on May 31.
“Detectives are investigating whether the suspicious fire is linked to other reports of similar fires in the area in the past week. Investigators have a number of inquiries to make and their investigation is ongoing,” a police spokesman said.
Metropolitan Fire Brigade senior station officer Damian Bourke told Fairfax radio that neighbours saw two men running from the area about the time the May 31 fire began.
“Because it was late at night there’s no description of the men, but just the number of men was two,” Mr Bourke said.
He said several aerosol cans were found in the unit.
