Two people have been killed in a devastating house fire that tore through a suburban home south of Brisbane on Tuesday afternoon.
A man and a woman, believed to be family friends, were killed in a blaze that destroyed a two-storey home in Kingston, Logan just after 2pm.
Four other people who were inside the home at the time were able to escape and not physically injured.
Police said the house was fully ablaze when emergency services arrived about 3.04pm, prompting the evacuation of nearby homes and the set up of an exclusion zone hundreds of metres down the street.
“A crime scene has been declared as investigations into the cause of the fire are under way,” Queensland Police said in a statement.
“Anyone with relevant information or vision is urged to contact police.”
Images taken by members of the public, some standing more than a kilometre away, show a massive plume of smoke billowing over the Logan area.
Queensland Police Inspector Jason Barrowcliffe told the ABC the smoke could be seen as far away as Holmview, nearly 11km away.
One neighbour told 7News she could smell the smoke before she even realised the blaze was spreading.
“Within three to five minutes, like, the whole house was engulfed,” she said.
“We were just yelling to make sure is anybody inside, is everybody OK.”
It is the second of three building fire tragedies to hit Queensland in the space of a week following the death of a young mother in the Sunshine Coast on Sunday and the death of a man inside a shed in Nambour on Tuesday night, July 13.
Isabella Nicholls, 21, was inside a property in King St, Buderim, when fire broke out.
She was able to escape but suffered severe injuries and died in hospital a short while later.
In the space of 24 hours, more than $2000 had been raised in her memory.
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