Man Escapes Fatal Kingston House Fire, Wife and Friend Die

A man who escaped a fatal house fire south of Brisbane says he should have died with his wife of 42 years.

Leanne Gay Laver and family friend Phillip Gordon died when the house caught alight in the Logan suburb of Kingston on Tuesday afternoon.

Ari and Leanne Laver had rented the two-storey Adelaide Street home for 35 years.

The couple had three children, including a daughter they informally adopted as an adult.

Mr Laver said his wife had stage four lymphoma, but they thought she was on the "right route" after good reports on her health.

"She was right at the front door, I ran down for the hose thinking that she would be following," he said.

"When we realised the fire was right under the house, I tried to go back but I couldn't get back in.

"I called to her, I told her to try for the door. I don't know what to say, we got out in our underwear and with a phone, that's it."

Mr Laver said it was about three minutes from when they first heard "a thump" until they were driven out of the house.

Mr Laver and three others got out of the house unharmed.

"What am I going to do for my kids? That's all that's going through my head," he said.

Mr Laver said he is partially paralysed and his wife had been his carer.

He also said he had known the other victim, Phillip Gordon, since he was 17 years old.

"I called him my brother in every way. I was an only child and he's all I knew of a brother. My parents loved him."

'I smelt it before I heard it'

Neighbour Tiffany Tinker said the blaze spread fast.

"The kids just came in and started yelling the next door neighbour's house was on fire, and I smelt it before I heard it and then by the time I looked outside I saw the flames just engulfing the house next door," she said.

Investigators are at the scene today to work out what caused the fire.