Lightning from a storm that swept through Melbourne last night has dramatically set a home alight in the city's north.
Some regional areas west of Melbourne received more rain in a day than they would normally get in the entire month of February.
The Metropolitan Fire Brigade (MFB) said it was called to a fire at a Preston home about 7:40pm, where they found a brick house "fully alight".
"Lightning from a storm that swept across Melbourne struck a domestic gas meter resulting in a single-storey house fire," the MFB said.
An emergency warning was issued to nearby houses as smoke was blown east from the blaze, which took 30 firefighters about 45 minutes to bring under control.
A neighbour to the Penola Street home said she was watching the television when she saw the lightning strike.
"There was a big bolt and [it] was so loud, it was like an explosion," Marie Varga told Melbourne radio station 3AW.
"And then there was a great big fireball after that, and that's how the house caught fire."
She said two elderly people lived at the house and when she went out to the street they had already left the home.
Investigators will return to the house today to assess the damage.
Flaming cars found at suspicious warehouse fire
In a separate incident, firefighters put out a "suspicious" blaze at a warehouse in Melbourne's west this morning, where up to four cars were found alight inside the burning building.
Firefighters were called about 5:30am to the warehouse near the intersection of Williamson and Rosamond roads in Maribyrnong, where they found the 50-by-80-metre warehouse "heavily smoke logged".
In a statement, the MFB said the fire had been deemed "suspicious" and police and paramedics were called to the scene.
"There have been three or four cars within the warehouse that were on fire," the MFB said.
At least 11 firefighting trucks were used to put out the blaze, which was brought under control about 6:30am.
The blaze had prompted a warning for nearby residents to close doors and windows, as smoke was blown over homes north of the fire.
