{"id":1040077,"date":"2026-09-03T03:09:29","date_gmt":"2026-09-03T03:09:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/1040077\/"},"modified":"2026-09-03T03:09:29","modified_gmt":"2026-09-03T03:09:29","slug":"melton-firebombing-gone-wrong-leaves-man-in-hospital-with-critical-injuries","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/1040077\/","title":{"rendered":"Melton firebombing gone wrong leaves man in hospital with critical injuries"},"content":{"rendered":"

A man has suffered critical burns in what appears to be a bungled firebombing of a shop at Melton, in Melbourne’s outer-west.<\/p>\n

Victoria Police said emergency services were called to reports of a fire in Alexander Street, Melton, shortly before 3am.<\/p>\n

A man aged in his 20s was found at the scene with critical burns and was flown to the Alfred Hospital.<\/p>\n

Ambulance Victoria said the man suffered upper and lower body injuries.<\/p>\n

\"People<\/p>\n

Several people can be seen at the scene of the fire in the early hours of Thursday morning. (Supplied)<\/p>\n

CCTV from the scene shows a ute reversing into the building, before several men get out with what appears to be jerry cans full of fuel.<\/p>\n

A few moments later, a ball of flame engulfs both men.<\/p>\n

One man can be seen rolling around on the ground trying to extinguish flames before getting into the vehicle, where more flames erupt.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Fire crews were called to the scene just before 3am. (ABC News: Georgia Lenton-Williams)<\/p>\n

Victoria Police said they are still looking for two men allegedly involved in the incident.<\/p>\n

Police believe one of the missing men may have severe burns to his hands and feet.<\/p>\n

Detective Inspector Chris Murray from the Arson and Explosives Squad said the incident was extremely dangerous.<\/p>\n

“We have said repeatedly that deliberately lighting fires comes with immense risk, not only to the broader community but also to the offenders involved,” he said.<\/p>\n

\"Forensics<\/p>\n

A crime scene has been established and police are investigating the circumstances of the fire. (ABC News: Georgia Lenton-Williams)<\/p>\n

“We have also seen incidents where offenders have died as a result of sustaining burns and this remains a very real possibility to happen again with this incident.<\/p>\n

“Fire is uncontrollable and unpredictable and we can only be thankful it’s not an innocent member of the public who has been injured.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The ute used in the incident was later found on the Western Highway at Hopetoun Park, around 50 kilometres north-west of Melbourne.<\/p>\n

Police said the circumstances were still under investigation but that it appeared to have been a targeted attack.<\/p>\n

\"The<\/p>\n

Police said the fire was being treated as suspicious. (ABC News: Georgia Lenton-Williams)<\/p>\n

“If there is anyone out there who witnessed the fire or has any information at all about who is responsible, then I urge those people to come forward and tell us before this happens again with potentially fatal consequences,” Detective Inspector Murray said.<\/p>\n

Fire Rescue Victoria (FRV) said its crews were on the scene within four minutes and brought the fire under control around 3:12am.<\/p>\n

“The incident was deemed suspicious and handed to Victoria Police for investigation,” an FRV spokesperson said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A man has suffered critical burns in what appears to be a bungled firebombing of a shop at…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":1040078,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[2],"tags":[8339,4740,144093,5025,196636,19176,50,7207],"class_list":["post-1040077","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-news","tag-arson","tag-australia","tag-burn","tag-fire","tag-firebomb","tag-injury","tag-news","tag-police"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/117204914752357083","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1040077","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1040077"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1040077\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1040078"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1040077"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1040077"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1040077"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}