WANGARATTA couple Lou and Elena Panozzo had returned home about 7.30pm to a nasty shock after a Sunday visit to Myrtleford.
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“A friend told us they were sorry for what had happened,” Mr Panozzo said yesterday.
“But we didn’t know what had occurred.”
That’s when the couple were told a house they have owned for 18 years and rented out had been destroyed in a fire.
The blaze ripped through the Edwards Street home about 3.15pm.
Mr Panozzo yesterday said a couple, who had rented the property for about a year, were not insured and had lost everything.
They were not at home when the fire started.
The tenants have since arranged temporary accommodation through their rental agency.
Mr Panozzo, who with his wife spent yesterday sifting through the burnt contents of the home, said he was unsure whether the man’s partner had been staying at the home full time.
“It’s a property that you work hard for and it is sad to see it go like this,” he said.
“We were in Myrtleford all afternoon and didn’t get home until about 7.30pm.
“It’s no good to get angry — what can you do?”
Fire investigators and an insurance assessor inspected the property yesterday.
While the building is structurally sound, the inside of the house was badly damaged by fire and smoke and will have to be gutted.
Contractors yesterday secured the property by installing metal sheeting over the windows.
The heat from the fire had caused at least one window to explode.
An electrical fault in a heater bought on Sunday caused the blaze.
Energy Safe Victoria will examine it find what was wrong with it.