Firefighters from multiple brigades battled a blaze that consumed a Warrnambool home this afternoon.
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Emergency services were alerted to the Cleary Road blaze when neighbour Linda Grove saw flames over her fence just before 3pm.
"I was just putting my dog away in the yard here and all of a sudden it was just billowing smoke," she said.
"I was thinking, no-one would be burning off in these conditions today, and then I started to see flames and thought 'holy crap' and called the CFA.
"By the time the fire brigade got here the flames were as high as the gum trees. It all happened so fast."
The single-storey weatherboard home was completely destroyed, Warrnambool CFA Commander Robert Howell said.
"The fire started up the east end of the house, the actual cause is undetermined at this point," he said.
"The whole house was destroyed basically, half of it was on the ground and the rest was severely damaged by fire.
"It's uninhabitable now."
Commander Howell said the weather conditions and location of the fire made it more difficult to fight.
"The weather conditions made it extremely difficult to suppress the fire because of the wind," he said.
"Poor water sources in that location meant we had to call more water tankers both from the CFA and an outside provider who brought a water tanker in.
"One truck was managing the actual fire while others fed water to that truck. It took about two hours to get it completely under control."
Firefighters from Warrnambool, Wangoom, Allansford, Koroit and Woodford turned out to fight the fire.
It appears no-one was home at the time except two golden retriever pets, who Commander Howell said were okay.
"The dogs were fine," he said.
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