Six cars set alight in Melbourne in fourth consecutive night of residential arson attacks.

There is a particular unease that settles over a city when the violence of the night begins to repeat itself—when what was once an isolated incident becomes a pattern, and the pattern becomes a fear that follows residents into their sleep. In Melbourne this week, that unease has taken the shape of fire, appearing in driveways and front yards across the suburbs, one night after another.

Six cars were set alight in the early hours of Wednesday morning, marking the fourth consecutive night of residential firebombings across the city. In Springvale, a family of eight—including young children and an elderly woman—was forced to flee when a car fire spread to their home on Burrapike Avenue about 3:45 a.m. The flames caused minor damage to the house, but the family told the ABC they had already lost a car in a previous attack .

Hours earlier in Reservoir, in Melbourne's north, firefighters found two cars alight on Pallant Avenue just before 2 a.m. About twenty minutes later, two more cars were engulfed in fire on Boldrewood Parade, roughly five kilometers away. Police have linked those two attacks. All four vehicles were destroyed .

A fifth incident was reported in Oakleigh East, where a car fire in a driveway on Kuranda Crescent caused minor damage to a home. Four people were inside at the time but were not harmed .

The toll from this week's firebombings now stands at thirteen cars destroyed, with two homes damaged—one substantially. The attacks have occurred in Keilor, Taylors Hill, Balwyn North, Maidstone, Reservoir, and Springvale. In the Taylors Hill incident on Monday, a teenager suffered severe burns and remains in hospital fighting for his life. Investigators believe he was attempting to flee in a stolen vehicle when it crashed .

Victoria Police spokesperson John McLaughlan said officers had established crime scenes at all locations and were investigating potential links case by case. "We haven't got any intelligence to suggest all these incidents are linked at this stage," he said, though he acknowledged there had been an increase in arson across the city .

For the residents of these suburbs, the repetition is its own kind of trauma. The family in Springvale, sheltering in another vehicle on the roadway after fleeing their home, had already lived through this once before. For now, police continue their investigations, and residents wait to see whether the fifth night will bring another fire—or a pause.

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Sources: Australian Broadcasting Corporation