Three people have been found dead in the remains of a suspicious house fire in Bonner.
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Fire crews arrived to find a house "well alight" on Peter Coppin Street just before 9am Monday.
At first, crews found no one inside during a preliminary search of the house but made the grim discovery after putting the fire out.
The bodies were reportedly of an adult and two children, but police said they could not confirm the identities of the deceased.
ACT Policing Detective Superintendent Scott Moller said an investigation would be ongoing.
He urged anyone with information to contact Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000.
A report will now be prepared for the coroner.
Rachael Collins, who lives on nearby Irinyili Street, said the fire took hold of the property quickly.
"My husband left for work at 8.30, there was no sign of smoke, nothing, because I called him as soon as I saw something. I left at 17 minutes to 9 and it was up in smoke," she said.
"I could see it coming out of the roof. So within a 13-minute period that house had gone from being nothing to being in flames."
She described the neighbourhood as a family area.
"Nothing like that has ever happened around here, never had fires, never had anything, but that was really scary," Ms Collins said.
An ACT Policing spokeswoman said witnesses reported dark plumes of smoke above the house about 8.45am.
Police cordoned off the area shortly after 10am and a search and rescue vehicle arrived about 11.30am.
"Following an analysis of the scene, police are treating the fire as suspicious," the spokeswoman said.
