Bellbird Park House Fire Treated as Suspicious After Body Found

A devastating house fire at Bellbird Park, west of Brisbane, has claimed one life, with a man in his 30s hospitalized for smoke inhalation and burns. The blaze, which engulfed the Verran Street property around 5pm on Thursday, is being treated as suspicious by Queensland Police.

The emergency services were called to the scene after nearby residents reported the fire. Matthew Vanderbyl, Queensland Police's southern region assistant commissioner, said the house was completely ablaze when firefighters arrived, taking hours to extinguish.

A man in his 30s was taken to Ipswich Hospital in a stable condition, with minor injuries. A Queensland Ambulance spokesperson said paramedics were initially unaware another person was still inside the property.

A crime scene was declared overnight, and police entered the house this morning to search for others. "The entire top storey of that two-storey house had collapsed onto the remainder of the house rendering it quite unsafe to get into," Assistant Commissioner Vanderbyl said.

This morning, the remains of a person were found on the top floor of the house. "That's a terrible way for someone to perish and our thoughts go out to that family," Vanderbyl said. "We will do a lot of work over the weekend to try and identify that individual and to advise their family and bring some closure to those people."

The property was reportedly vacated weeks earlier, but police are unsure if it was unoccupied or if people had been evicted. Assistant Commissioner Vanderbyl said the circumstances around the fire had raised suspicions. "There were reports of the smell of petrol around the areas at the time," he said. "We are very much treating that as suspicious."

Police are appealing for local residents with CCTV footage to come forward.