Mother, son hailed as heroes for pulling man, 92, from burning house

An elderly man, 93, is lucky to be alive after a mother and son pulled him from a burning home at Barrack Heights.

Debra and Jett Murray have been hailed has heroes after saving a 93-year-old man from a burning home at Barrack Heights. Picture: Madeline Crittenden

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A mother and son are being hailed has heroes after saving a 92-year-old man from a burning home at Barrack Heights.

Debra and Jett Murray were driving down Kerros Ave just before 2pm today when they saw smoke billowing from a small brick home.

Debra noticed the front door was open and immediately rushed into the home to make sure no was trapped, while her son Jett waited outside and called triple-0.

Emergency services out the front of the burning home.

“I was yelling out ‘is anyone home, is anytime home’ and I noticed one of the doors was shut,” she said.

“The smoke was getting so thick by then and I heard an elderly man.”

Debra found the man inside one of the rooms and carried him out of the home and onto the balcony where she noticed he was “singed and burnt”.

“He couldn’t walk that well,” she said.

“He was puffy in the face. He was singed and his hand was bleeding and burnt.”

Debra and Jett said they did not feel like heroes and were just glad the man was okay.

“I took in a bit of smoke I had a really bad cough but they [the paramedics] put me on the oxygen,” Debra said.

Emergency service crews attending the scene. Picture: Madeline Crittenden

“As long as he’s okay I’m fine.”

Thanks to Debra and Jett’s fast action, the man was taken to hospital in a stable condition with some minor burns to his hand and face.

Fire and Rescue Shellharbour station officer Murray Oastler said crews found LPG cylinders alight at the back of the home upon arrival.

“One was alight and it appears to be some sort of malfunction with an LPG heather that’s caused the fire,” he said.

“We were able to knock it down pretty quickly and contain the heat inside the cylinders.”

Mr Oastler said it was important to make sure all LPG gas heaters were in correct working order during the winter months.

“[LPG] is highly explosive, make sure all your connections are tight, make sure everything is in date, your hoses are in good condition and that you’ve a complaint appliance that you’re using,” he said.

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