The Country Fire Authority has confirmed that firefighter Russell Pitt died in a fire in his own home at 3:30 a.m. Thursday morning shortly after he returned from fighting bushfires in Gippsland and at Yarra Glen. He was due to return to the fires again on Thursday. The fire in the Upper Ferntree Gully community east of Melbourne (map) apparently was confined to just his home.
Officials are not sure what caused the fire, but it is being treated as suspicious and is being investigated by police.
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