POLICE are treating the fire that destroyed an unoccupied Katherine South unit in the early hours of September 12 as suspicious.
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At about 6.45am on Saturday, police responded to a report that a unit in a complex on the corner of Riverbank Drive and Condon Street was well alight.
Northern Territory Fire and Rescue Service leading firefighter Bernie Welsford said it took eight operators almost an hour to contain and extinguish the blaze, which caused a partial collapse of the unit’s top floor.
“We couldn’t access it because of the amount of damage to the top floor, and put the fire out from the outside on ladders,” he explained.
While the unit was officially unoccupied, he added that crews carried out a search to ensure the structure was empty.
“We still work on the assumption there is someone on there,” Mr Welsford explained.
A police spokeswoman said fire investigators believed the “suspicious” blaze had been deliberately lit.
