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Three people have been taken to hospital after a fire burnt through a unit block in Sydney north-west overnight following reports of an explosion.
Firefighters arrived at a unit block on Bartlett Street, Ermington, about 7:00pm Friday to find the two-storey building well alight.
The 43 people inside the building were evacuated before three people were taken to hospital.
One of the people transported to hospital was a 51-year-old man, from the unit where the fire started, who had suffered serious burns to his hands, a NSW police statement said.
The statement said police officers were told there was an explosion before the fire started.
A second man, from another unit, was also taken to hospital with smoke inhalation.
Fire and Rescue NSW Superintendent Jeremy Stubbs said the fire started in a ground-floor unit in the block and extended into neighbouring units.
"We had 10 fire trucks on scene and two aerial appliances, fire fighters did a fantastic job in extinguishing the fire, that had leapt into the roof," Superintendent Stubbs said.
He said Fire and Rescue NSW and NSW Police will now investigate the cause of the fire.
One of the residents of the building said that he thought the fire was caused by a gas bottle.
"As far as I know, someone used a gas bottle and the whole thing exploded," he said.
"The fire brigade came around and told everybody to get out."
A NSW Police statement said a number of units in the complex were completely destroyed.
"Officers from Rosehill Local Area Command attended and are investigating the cause of the fire, which has not yet been determined if suspicious or not," the statement said.
More than 50 calls to triple-0 about suburban fire
Meanwhile, two more people were taken to hospital with burns after a house fire in Pemulwuy in Sydney's west this morning.
Firefighters were called to the fire about 11:20am.
The two people suffered serious burns and were taken to hospital.
NSW Police said they will be treating the fire as suspicious.
Fire and Rescue NSW Superintendent Paul Johnstone said the fire was so big authorities received numerous calls about it.
"I think there were up to 50 triple-0 calls to this fire," Superintendent Johnstone said.
Superintendent Johnstone said at this stage it was unclear if there were more than two people inside the house.
"The structural integrity of the house is really at risk so crews aren't able to enter the house."
Four people had to be evacuated from nearby homes due to the severity of the fire.
Nearby resident Leticia Butler said there was a "massive explosion" and the windows of the house were blown out.
"The noise was just intense ... it didn't take long and the flames were over the roof," Ms Butler said.
"It was very frightening ... I hope everyone is ok ... we've only moved here with in the week ... it's a nice little area, nice and quiet.
"People from streets up told us their house shook."
Her husband David Butler said he thought it was a gas explosion and there was a lot of smoke and flames.
'Suspicious activity' before fire in Hazelbrook
Police are also investigating a suspicious fire that destroyed a house in Hazelbrook, in Sydney's Blue Mountains region overnight.
Fire fighters were called to the home on Mount View Avenue, just after 4:00am and fought to contain the blaze which had taken hold very quickly.
A man who was home at the time was taken to hospital with smoke inhalation.
Fire and Rescue NSW Superintendent Paul Johnstone said there are allegations that a man drove up in a car, set the fire and then drove off.
"When firefighters got on scene they started extinguishing the fire, there was nobody else around at the time but that information had already been given to police," Superintendent Johnstone said.
A statement from NSW Police said a crime scene has been established at the house and police are investigating
"A canvass of the other residents in the street is now underway," the statement said.
"The cause of the fire is unknown and police are appealing for anyone with information to contact Crime Stoppers."
Topics: fires, disasters-and-accidents, erskineville-2043, nsw, hazelbrook-2779, sydney-2000
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