There are grave fears that multiple occupants are unaccounted for after a fire ripped through a two-storey home in central Queensland.
Emergency crews raced to Whiting Street in Toolooa near Gladstone shortly before 6am on Wednesday and found the home fully alight.
Firefighters spent almost 90 minutes getting the fire under control.
They have so far been unable to conduct a primary search of the property due to the top storey collapsing.
Police have confirmed that officers are investigating a house fire ‘in which multiple occupants are unaccounted’.
‘The fire has since been extinguished and a crime scene has been declared,’ a spokesperson told Daily Mail.
Paramedics remain at the scene, a Queensland Ambulance spokesperson confirmed.
Shocked neighbours recalled being woken by the sound of loud explosions and looking out their windows to see bright orange flames and thick smoke coming from the home.
Multiple people remain unaccounted for after a horror house fire near Gladstone
Emergency crews were called to Whiting Street in Toolooa shortly before 6am Wednesday
Toolooa is 5.6km south of Gladstone in central Queensland
‘It sounded like rolling, continuing thunder. We thought it was a thunderstorm. You know how you get like a rolling thunder – it sounded like that,’ one resident told The Observer.
‘And then just explosions from like gas bottles or something – that’s all you could hear.
‘We looked out the window and saw a big cloud of smoke billowing. It was all just really quick.’
The home has sustained significant damage.
Firefighters and detectives remain at the scene to investigate what sparked the blaze, as shocked neighbours watched on.
Police are expected to provide an update later on Wednesday morning.
Toolooa is 5.6km south of Gladstone and home to a population of 992, according to the 2021 Census.