‘Miracle’: Family leap from burning home in Bentleigh East, Melbourne

The residents were forced to flee for their lives in the middle of the night after the home erupted in flames.

A family is lucky to be alive after escaping a ferocious blaze that tore through a Melbourne home overnight.

The two-storey house in Bentleigh East erupted in flames just after 11pm on Wednesday, while five people were inside.

The boyfriend of one of the residents, Ryan, has opened up about the harrowing moment they had to flee for their lives.

The family were left to flee for their lives. Picture: NewsWire

He said everyone in the house was asleep before the fire alarm went off.

“There was so much fire downstairs so you couldn’t get down …. there were four of us on the balcony and the dog,” he told the Herald Sun.

“We climbed onto the roof and then jumped.

“The number one goal (was) to keep the dog alive … and we did.”

He said a teenage girl fell off the balcony and sustained two ankle injuries, requiring surgery.

“It was either too dark or she passed out,” he said.

A woman in her 40s and a girl in her teens were treated on the scene by paramedics and transported to the Alfred Hospital in stable conditions.

A total of five people were evacuated from the blazing house by Fire Rescue Victoria.

“It was really terrible. Terrible. And like frustrating and yeah, terrifying,” one neighbour told 9News.

“The people were screaming so like loud. And we just started to panic.”

Neighbour, Christine told McCormack, told 7News that she and her husband were woken by the family’s screams.

“I heard screaming in the street. I thought it was hooligans at first,” Ms McCormack said.

“Then the screams were getting more intense — ‘help, help’ — and I look out the window and I see my neighbours on the garage roof trying to get down off the roof.

“The two daughters were on the roof … on the balcony, plus … one of the daughter’s partners. They … all jumped, because we couldn’t get the ladder to them.

“One of the girls, I think, broke her foot. The young one. They jumped on the tree and fell straight down.

“One of those daughters is in hospital along with another woman as well, believed to be the mum of this family.”

MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA - MAY 15, 2025: A Melbourne woman has jumped off the balcony of a blazing house this morning. The two-storey house in Bentleigh East erupted in flames just after 11pm, trapping 3 occupants -- including the woman on thebalcony.The trapped woman took a leap of faith from the first floor balcony after fire spread from the ground floor i nto the secondfloor. A total of five people were evacuated, with two treated on the scene and sent to the hospitalPicture: NewsWire/ Nadir Kinani

“ “It’s a miracle that they all did get out.” Fire Rescue Victoria Commander Rob Joyce said.

An adjoining residence was destroyed in the blaze after firefighters faced poor water supply and were unable to prevent the spread of fire.

It took 30 firefighters about an hour to bring the blaze under control.

The cause of the fire is unknown and will be investigated by Fire Rescue Victoria later in the morning.

Originally published as ‘Miracle’: Family leap from burning home in Bentleigh East, Melbourne