More than a year after two young children died in a house fire while home alone , police have charged a man with negligent manslaughter.

He was the second person to be charged over the deaths of a one-year-old and a five-year-old girl in Melbourne's north west, after their mother, Shania Lee, was charged earlier in September.

Detectives from Victoria Police's Arson and Explosive Squad conducted a year-long investigation into the fatal fire at a Sydenham home in September last year before laying charges.

Emergency services were called to a home on Fergus Court in Sydenham at 9.30pm on September 8, 2024, after receiving reports of a fire .

Firefighters entered the home and found a five-year-old girl, a three-year-old boy and a one-year-old girl.

All three children were treated in th

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