A woman has been charged with two counts of attempted murder following a house fire in Melbourne’s south-east that left her and her two children in critical condition.
Police today arrested and charged a 37-year-old Chadstone woman over the May 21 blaze at a two-storey property in Terrigal Street in Chadstone.
The woman is due to appear in Melbourne Magistrates’ Court on Friday.
Emergency services were called to reports of the blaze at around 9:40pm, with the woman and two girls, aged seven and eight, taken to the hospital in a critical condition after firefighters forced entry to rescue the trio.
A fourth occupant, a 36-year-old man, was not home during the fire.
At the time of the incident, Detective Inspector Chris Murray from the Arson and Explosives Squad said a gas cylinder had exploded inside the home.
“We believe [the fire] was from a gas cylinder … how that’s come to explode is a matter for the investigation proper to unpack,” he said.
“Such an incident, where we have [an] explosion and fire, can be absolutely devastating.”
Shocked neighbours described the ferocity of the blaze, saying they saw a “fireball” and heavy smoke billowing from the property.