Family flee burning home
A young Victoria Park family were staying with friends last night after fire gutted their rental home.
A mobile phone and a partially melted laptop were all firefighters could salvage from the Litchfield Street property.
Yuliana, 30, and her two-year-old son Kenji were inside when smoke started filling the house just after 7pm.
"I didn't know where the smoke was coming from," Yuliana said.
"I checked in the kitchen then when I opened the door to the second bedroom there was smoke everywhere.
"(Kenji) was watching TV and we just ran. It was scary, so scary. The fire was so quick.
"I wanted to go back in to get some things but the firefighters said no. Everything was inside."
Firefighters at the Litchfield Street property. Picture: Lincoln Baker/The West Australian
Neighbours gave bags of clothes to Yuliana, including nappies for her son.
Her husband Yasu was working at a restaurant in the city at the time, but he came home after friends gave him the bad news.
Firefighter Matt Wakeling said the blaze had caused about $200,000 damage.
"It's probably going to need to be a pushover and rebuild," he said.
"We saw the flames coming over the hill from Welshpool so there was no way it was going to be saved."
The cause of the fire is yet to be determined.
