A MICA paramedic passing the scene of a house fire in Wodonga has stopped to help a family escape.
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A blaze is believed to have started in the Mayfair Drive home from cooking on the stove and quickly spread through the rangehood and into the air-conditioning system.
Wodonga senior station officer Matt Johnson said the paramedic saw the fire and stopped to help while the alarm was raised with emergency services.
“He has assisted to evacuate the occupants of the house,” he said.
“The crews were first tasked with a primary search to make sure there were no further occupants and this was confirmed very early on – then they went about extinguishing any fire, which at that stage was contained to the roof of the premises.
“There were certainly concerns with it spreading further into the house, given it was in the air-conditioning system.”
The family’s neighbour, Peter Caunt, saw the beginnings of the fire about 11am.
“I was working on the printer and smelled smoke,” he said.
“I came outside and saw there was smoke billowing through the centre of the house.”
Mr Caunt said a couple and their now-adult son have lived at the property throughout the 20 years he has been on Mayfair Drive.
“I helped get their labrador and got a lead for it so it could be tied up and gave them some drinks,” he said.
“The wife is pretty upset … it’s a shocking thing to happen.”
Firefighters arrived within five minutes and had the fire contained within three minutes.
Wodonga and Wodonga West CFA brigades attended, and a NSW Fire and Rescue crew also supported the effort.
Mr Johnson believed the building would be repairable.
“Mostly damage at this stage is confined to the roof of the building, with some slight water damage inside as well, and some fire damage around the kitchen area,” he said.
“We did have some issues with the integrity of the roof; initially we had some firefighters trying to gain access to the fire on the roof but due to the instability, we had to remove them from that area.
“NSW responded to assist us, given the temperatures we’re experiencing today, so we could rotate our breathing apparatus crews through the scene in a safe manner.
“A structural firefight is warm at the best of times, but this heat certainly adds another dimension to that.”
