Shanks-Markovina was not in the home, which is a subdivision at the back of another home, at the time of the fire.
“The fire is being treated as suspicious,” Fire and Rescue NSW’s Adam Dewberry told reporters on Wednesday.
Specialist police forensics, and dogs “trained in the use of detection accelerants”, will be dedicated to investigating the cause of the fire on Wednesday, he said.
“The cause and origin of the fire [are] it is currently being investigated by specialists,” he said.
NSW Fire and Rescue said it took crews half an hour to extinguish the fire. “From our understanding, [the fire] it caused some pretty significant damage,” he said.
Police confirmed the home remained a crime scene, and detectives arrived Wednesday afternoon as the smell of smoke continued to hang in the air.
“Officers from the Eastern Suburbs Policing Area Command attended along with Fire and Rescue NSW and found the terrace of the house well alight,” police said in a statement. “The fire has been extinguished with significant damage to the home and an adjoining property.”
Investigators are also looking into whether the fire is related to another fire reported at the same address last Thursday.
Shanks-Markovina has been a YouTube personality for a decade. He has interviewed Kristina Keneally, Tanya Plibersek and former Prime Minister Kevin Rudd, among others.
Recent videos on his YouTube channel, which has 627,000 subscribers, include “KFC Workers Confess Their Sins,” “Anthony Albanese: Enemy of Women?” and “Career politicians: a scourge on society.”
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