Arabic version: اتهام مراهق على خلفية حريق منزل في أبوتسفورد

According to ABC News, a 17-year-old boy has been charged following a house fire at Abbotsford in Sydney’s inner west that left four people hospitalised, including an 88-year-old woman.

Forty firefighters and 10 trucks were called to the home about 4am on Tuesday, where the building was well alight. The 88-year-old woman, her son and his wife were rescued and taken to hospital for smoke inhalation.

A 49-year-old man who climbed a ladder to save the elderly woman was also taken to hospital. Another man, described by police as a long-term renter at the home, received treatment but did not require hospitalisation. Police said a neighbour confronted a male wearing a balaclava.

Police said the teenager was arrested about 11pm on Tuesday at a home in Merrylands. He was treated for burns to his hands and legs before being taken to hospital, where he remains in a stable condition. Detectives carried out a search warrant at the home and seized “a number of items of interest”, police said.

The boy has been charged with damaging property by fire or explosion valued at more than $15,000, being carried in a conveyance taken without the owner’s consent, and obtaining property by deception. He was refused bail and is expected to appear before Parramatta Bail Division Court on Wednesday.