Three Indian students have been killed in a house fire in Melbourne\'s western suburbs this morning.

Metropolitan Fire Brigade spokesman Trevor Woodward said there was little firefighters could do to save the men - aged 30, 24 and 22 - as fire engulfed the weatherboard house in Ballarat Road, Footscray, about 12.45am.

We had already heard from the callers [to triple-0] that there were people inside and the first crews tried to get in but there was no way they could get to anyone. It was a wall of flame, Mr Woodward said.

The bodies of two of the men were found at the back of the house once crews had extinguished the flames.

The third victim was found a short time later in the hall.

A man, a woman and their daughter managed to escape the fire unharmed, he said.

Detective Sergeant Rod Stormonth from Victoria Police\'s arson squad said the dead men were Indian students who were trapped in a front bedroom.

Words can\'t describe how tragic this incident is, not only for the deceased friends and family, but for emergency services, the people who attend, he said.

Detective Sergeant Stormonth said arson chemists were still trying to determine the cause of the fire.

He said the three people who escaped the the blaze are in shock and staying with friends, while family members of the dead men had been contacted in India.

Neighbour Wayne Gooch, who lives next door with his brother, said he heard a noise on a window that sounded like rain, looked outside and saw the house ablaze.

He went next door to find the surviving family running around from the side of the house, having smashed a window to escape.

We got the front door open and there was a bloke in the middle of the passage way rolling around, but we couldn\'t help him. The flames were on both sides of the wall.

We heard them burning, screaming and rolling around. You just couldn\'t help them.

Metropolitan Fire Brigade commander Ken Brown said the crews were dispatched and at the scene within three minutes.

The roof of the house was totally destroyed by the fire, while trees and shrubs in the front yard were burnt.

\'It was all too late\'

It was shocking for everyone. The three people ... luckily got out with their lives. The father came around to try and help with the neighbours and when we pulled up, they said \'there\'s someone inside, there\'s three people inside\' but it was all too late.

Because they didn\'t have working smoke alarms the time to detection before anyone notices the fire is delayed. If they\'d had a smoke alarm we would have known about this a lot earlier and hopefully contained it.

The cause of the fire was not known.

Neighbour Katie Ewing said she woke to lots of shouting at 12.45am and said her husband said flames were pouring out of the house. He attempted to tackle the fire with a garden hose.

We could hear screaming and see black smoke and orange light. We were worried it was going to spread, she said.

Ms Ewing said the residence was a communal household, with people regularly coming and going.

Local detectives are at the scene, and MFB fire investigators have been notified to attend.

The incident is the third fatal fire in Melbourne in the past week.

A man died when his unit in north suburban Lalor was destroyed by fire early on New Year\'s Day.

Last Thursday, a man died when he could not escape a fire that broke out in the bedroom of his home in Coburg North, also in Melbourne\'s north.