Family’s firebomb scares

By Danielle Galvin
IT was a dramatic few days before Christmas, with one firebomb detonated and two others found in Pakenham.
About 2.22am on Tuesday 20 December, a firebomb exploded at the Lakeside home of the Davis family, starting a fire attended by emergency services.
Later that morning, two unexploded firebombs were found at the front and side of a Pakenham florist.
Pakenham police believe the bomb scares may have been a misguided revenge attack on the Kids Outdoors business, which went into receivership the week before Christmas.
Parents who had ordered cubbyhouses for their little ones were devastated to find out that the business had gone bankrupt.
The unknowing Davis family moved into the Lakeside home in late November, and were none the wiser that the former occupants were the owners of the now-defunct Pakenham Kids Outdoors.
“We didn’t know the (previous) owners, we found out after we bought it. Since then we’ve had quite a few visitors,” he said.
Mr Davis said he wanted people to know that he was not involved with the owners of Kids Outdoors. He contacted the police after a number of late-night visits to his new home.
“We’ve got little kids, we don’t want them woken up at 3am. The police told us it could get worse,” he said.
Pakenham police urged residents not to take matters into their own hands and said it was lucky police were in the area at the time of the house fire.
“The flames were rising very quickly and police used a fire extinguisher and garden hose to put out the fire. A short while later the CFA arrived,” Senior Sergeant Graeme Higginbotham said.
“No one was injured and the two occupants were safely removed, but this could have been very dangerous and potentially life-threatening.”
The area around the florist was cordoned off late on Tuesday morning as the bomb squad removed the two firebombs.
Acting Sergeant Bob Merlino was at the scene and said the bomb squad was called as a precaution. “Police have been here since 10am,” he said.
Police are investigating if the incidents are linked.