Exploding house fire terrifies Monash students, injures resident
Emilie Baxter

BY NICKOLAS ZAKHARIA and DOMINIC LAM

Monash students were left shaken when a home exploded into flames near the Clayton campus last night, leaving one resident with burns.

Emergency services were alerted to the blaze on Wellington Road just before 8pm.

They discovered the home was fully alight and extra resources had to be called to stop the fire spreading to nearby homes.

It took firefighters 40 minutes to bring the fire under control.

Firefighters work to stop the blaze spreading. PHOTO: Nickolas Zakharia

Paramedics treated one of the home's residents for burns to his hands.

Everyone else escaped unharmed.

The home was gutted by fire. PHOTO: Nickolas Zakharia

Clayton resident James Morrissey, 20, said he felt an explosion from his house.

“I live four houses down. I don’t even think I heard the explosion itself, just felt it,” Mr Morrissey said.

“I heard the house around me shudder for a moment.

“It was kind of terrifying at the time.”

Clayton resident James Morrissey used social media to alert other students to the fire. PHOTO: James Morrissey, Facebook

Student Dakshil Patel, 21, said the explosion could be heard from across the road at Monash University’s sports centre.

“It was pretty loud,” he said.

“I honestly thought some building had collapsed.”

Monash students were frightened by the impact of the explosion. Picture: Facebook

Monash student Jessica Ly, 19, witnessed the fire as she was driving home.

“We drove past the house and saw it burning really ferociously past the roof of the house,” Ms Ly said.

“It would’ve been so devastating for the home owners and knowing that we couldn’t do anything.”

Access to the street was blocked while firefighters doused the flames. PHOTO: Nickolas Zakharia

The cause of the fire is being investigated.