A FAMILY left homeless on Black Saturday has been devastated a second time after their new house was torched to the ground.

Daryl Jones and his wife, Bev, whose house could not be lived in after being badly damaged in the Kinglake blaze, said they felt like the disaster had happened again after arsonists attacked their soon-to-be completed home at Mernda, in Melbourne's northeast.

The couple, their three adult children and two grandchildren were due to move in by Easter.

"We were just getting our lives back together," Mr Jones said. "Now we are back to square one."

The attack means the family, too afraid to move back to Kinglake for fear of future bushfires, must continue to rent a three-bedroom house in Diamond Creek until their new four-bedroom house is rebuilt.

Mr Jones this week hopes to confirm whether the $330,000 house is covered by builders' insurance and discuss how long it will take to rebuild.

"We survive all the bushfires and move into town where it is safer and we are hit by fire again," Mr Jones said.

"We feel empty."

Mr Jones said he could not understand how anyone could light a fire given the trauma of Black Saturday, but vowed his family would start over once more.

"It's our dream we have had for the past 12 months," he said of the new home.

"We are like each other's backbone.

"When something is in our minds, we get it done."

Sen-Det Michael Leemon, of Mill Park Crime Investigation Unit, said the couple were desperately unlucky.

"To have this happen again would be just devastating," he said.

Police want to speak to anyone who saw suspicious activity on the morning or days leading up to the attack, Sen-Det Leemon said.

It happened at Riverdale Blvd, Riverdale Estate, about 2.30am on December 28.

Source: Herald Sun