A WILD blaze in an Unley duplex has caused more than a million dollars' damage and left a man fighting for his life in hospital with serious burns.
Emergency crews were called to the Cleland Ave blaze at 5.35am this morning and found flames pouring out the first floor of a family home.
Two adults and three teenage children were home when it took hold and the father was rushed to the Royal Adelaide Hospital in a critical condition.
Flames quickly spread into the roof cavity and caused extensive damage to the neighboring apartment, which was vacant while the new owners prepared to move in.
Currently on holidays, they had already filed the house with furniture and a large amount of other personal items. It is expected both properties will be demolished.
Racing downstairs, she was confronted by the shocking sight of her seriously burned neighbour and his devastated wife begging for help.
``I heard glass breaking and I heard running and I thought someone had thrown something through the window,'' she said.
``It just went up like a bomb. Everything sucked up like a vacuum.''
Mrs Chandler grabbed a garden hose in a vain attempt to douse the flames.
Her neighbours had moved to the street little more than a month earlier. She described them as a caring couple who fitted in well but holds grave fears for the injured man.
"I'd say he had third degree burns, all down his body,'' she said.
The Metropolitan Fire Service dispatched seven crews and 26 firefighters took about an hour to bring the blaze under control.
It was still visibly smouldering more than two hours after first taking hold.
Fire scene investigators are working to determine the cause, but have confirmed it will become the subject of a police inquiry.
The man's wife and his three teenage children are understood to be holding a bedside vigil.
