Death Toll Rises in ‘Suspicious’ Newtown Boarding House Fire

NSW Police are now treating the devastating fire at a Newtown boarding house overnight as suspicious.

"From all independent examinations thus far, and also witnesses, it was an explosion,” a police spokesperson confirmed.

“The flames were called extremely quickly…it would be fair to say that some type of accelerant has been used".

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"We are treating this as a murder. We are treating this as a maliciously lit fire,” the spokesperson said.

Emergency crews attended the boarding house on the corner of Probert and Albermarle streets in Newtown about 1am on Tuesday to reports of a fire.

Eight residents managed to escape the fire, while three bodies were recovered from inside the building.

"Three people who we have found dead are men that we have not been able to identify … We are working with people inside, other tenants inside the house, who know them, but certainly their first name or potentially other particulars."

Police said they also held “serious concerns” for a fourth person who was reportedly inside at the time.

"We have not been able to clearly get a manifest of the tenants in this building. We understand that it is clearly a place which is transient with people coming and going, and of course, there is no guarantee that the 11 that was supposed to be there last night were in fact there and not even other places."

"So, it is making confirmation of the identity of those who perished extremely difficult at the moment, but clearly, that is a priority for investigators over the next day or so," the spokesperson said.

Police have confirmed that three people were taken to hospital, including a man in his 80s who was seen jumping from a first-floor balcony.

The gentleman, who was taken to Royal North Shore Hospital has since had a heart attack after being admitted with suspected fractured ankles.

A refuge for those experiencing homelessness, in Sydney's inner west, a Fire and Rescue NSW spokesman said, “it was a very intense fire”.

“The building has undergone some internal structural collapse, meaning it is now unsafe for firefighters to enter”.

Investigations are now underway in a joint effort between the arson squad of state crime command, NSW Fire and Rescue and police.

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