The rugby league fraternity was quick to respond, with St George Illawarra players Matt Cooper and Dan Hunt among those offering their support to Mr Ryan and other family members outside the Osborne Parade home.

Emergency services were called to the scene around 2.57pm, with police from Lake Illawarra Area Command cordoning off a section of the street surrounding the home.

No-one was inside the home, however paramedics remained on standby and had to treat two police officers for minor smoke inhalation.

Fire and Rescue NSW Inspector Gary Meagher said four stations and a water tanker attended the fire which started in the roof and quickly spread to the top floor of the two-storey home.

‘‘The roof collapsed and the top floor was destroyed by fire along with the contents,’’ he said.

‘‘The ground floor was severely damaged by water and smoke, and the contents on the ground floor were removed to the yard for salvage.’’

Inspector Meagher said the first fire truck got to the scene around 3.05pm and firefighters forced entry to the home.

Wearing breathing appartus, they tried to extinguish the fire on the top floor before the roof collapsed, and they were forced to knock the side wall in as well as it was in danger of falling.

It took firefighters more than two hours to extinguish the blaze and Inspector Meagher said the fire investigation unit would attend this morning.

‘‘The fire started in the roof area and it is being treated as a suspected electrical fire pending further investigation,’’ he said.

Lake Illawarra Police Acting Inspector Jason Harrison said police would also be investigating the fire which was not regarded as suspicious. ‘‘Crime scene will attend and police will liaise with the fire brigade,’’ he said.

Neighbour Jazmin Connelly told the Mercury she raised the alarm after popping home around 2.30pm.

‘‘I could hear an alarm going off at the Ryan’s house but I couldn’t see anything,’’ she said.

‘‘Then when I was reversing out of my driveway I saw smoke coming out of one of the upstairs windows so I rang the fire brigade.

‘‘Two men came from nearby streets and started banging on the door to make sure no-one was home, and fortunately they weren’t.

‘‘It just got worse and worse with black smoke and flames, the roof on fire and you could hear all this exploding inside. It was petrifying.’’

Nearby resident Joshua Williams was driving down the street when he noticed the smoke and stopped his car. He quickly got out to make sure no-one was in danger.

‘‘Once we realise no-one was in the home, we knocked on neighbours’ doors to warn them of the danger,’’ he said.

A crowd of onlookers flocked to the scene, with smoke visible from surrounding suburbs.

‘‘I’m from Barrack Heights and we could see the black smoke from there,’’ Cheryl Barber said. ‘‘We were on our way out so we swung past to take a look at what was happening.

‘‘The smoke was thick, then the firies came and broke the windows and flames just shot out.’’