Firetrap Warrawong unit leaves baby injured in third blaze in two months

Earlier on Friday, February 23, an infant was treated for smoke inhalation after a fire erupted in the ground floor of the Todd Street block.

It's the third fire in seven weeks at the units, which do not have a security door for entry.

Friday's fire started in an electrical box on the ground floor of the block and it left thick, black smoke flooding through multiple units.

The blaze is not being treated as suspicious.

Firefighters from Warrawong and Wollongong rushed to the scene and evacuated all residents.

"There's a baby with minor smoke inhalation and paramedics were called as a precaution," Fire and Rescue NSW Inspector Andrew Barber said.

"We had two crews in breathing apparatus and they extinguished the fire with a C02 extinguisher.

Endeavour Energy crews also attended, however the company did not respond to the Mercury's request for comment.

Resident Leah Mahon said she was concerned about the fire safety of the building.

On February 11, unit was destroyed by fire and residents in other units left trapped by flames and smoke. The blaze started after a woman allegedly jammed a pencil into a toaster.

On January 3, around 50 people ran for their lives after a fire started in an unoccupied unit in the block. Squatters are suspected of causing this fire.

Jesse Hartnett has lived at the unit block for over eight years and was asleep when the fire occurred this morning.

He says the residents have made complaints about the security of the buildings, which are open to the public.

"We want it to be lockup, random passersby can just come through right now," Mr Hartnett said.

"There was a fire in the place above me a few weeks ago, it keeps happening."

Two years ago, a Warilla woman whose social housing property burned down in an electrical fire claimed old, overloaded wiring in the region's crumbling public dwellings were putting lives at risk.

Kirsty Woodroffe said she was told by a fire inspector that the likely cause of the fire was electrical and had started in her bedroom.

After the fire destroyed everything she owned, she was moved into another fibro property with similar problems.

An electrician sent by Housing NSW to fix the power following a storm allegedly told her that half of the house needed to be rewired due to safety issues.

A government information (GIPA) request by the Mercury at the time revealed that unless a fire in an Illawarra social housing dwelling is the result of accident or arson, the official cause won't be recorded.

From July 2018 to September 2022, around 47 properties were damaged by fire in the region, the Department of Planning and Environment said.

Of these, nine were identified as accidents caused by tenant behaviour and five due to arson or suspected arson.

Not a single fire in the five years prior had been attributed to an electrical fault, with the causes of fire in the remaining 33 properties recorded as unknown or under investigation.