Elderly couple Jim and June Brennan rescued from burning Killarney Heights home
A group of neighbours has banded together to help rescue an elderly couple from the first floor of their burning home in Dublin Ave, Killarney Heights, before firefighters arrived.
Manly
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A group of have-a-go heroes has saved the lives of an elderly couple who were trapped on the first floor of their burning home on Sydney’s northern beaches.
“Uncle” Jim and “Aunty” June Brennan were rescued after the plucky neighbours managed to get a ladder up to a balcony and enter the house, filled with choking smoke, at Killarney Heights last night.
The fire was started by an electric blanket setting a bed alight.
Mrs Brennan, 84, had made her way through thick smoke to the balcony of the Dublin Ave home after the blaze broke out at about 8.20pm.
She screamed for help and shouted to neighbours that her 89-year-old husband was still inside their home of 50 years.
Next door neighbour Deke Rayner-Harvey rushed to the Brennan’s front yard after hearing loud crackling noises and seeing flames leaping from the roof of the house.
Mr Rayner-Harvey was joined by other neighbours including Pedro Nunes, who saw the flames from his home in nearby Rathowen Pde, and fellow Dublin Ave residents Gus Medeiros and Dennis.
Before emergency services arrived, the neighbours managed to get a ladder, provided by Mr Medeiros up to the balcony and break through a balustrade to get to Mrs Brennan.
“I was holding the ladder with Dennis, Deke and Pedro went up and we managed to get them down,” Mr Medeiros said.
“It was a team effort. We just did what anyone would do.”
Mr Brennan, 89 was found slumped on the floor inside the burning home by Mr Rayner Harvey, who heard a “weak voice” call out through the thick smoke.
“As we put the ladder upon the right hand side of the property June was on the balcony, but we couldn’t find Jim,” Mr Rayner-Harvey said.
“She said he was still inside, but as I’ve gone in you couldn’t see anything, visibility was about half a metre. I didn’t feel the heat, but the smoke was everywhere.”
“So I just dropped to the ground, started feeling around, shouting out his name repeatedly till I found him...he was very weak and disoriented when we got him out.“
Mr Rayner-Harvey then carried the elderly man to the balcony before he and his wife were assisted down the ladder to the front lawn.
Mr Nunes said the rescuers had to break through a balcony railing to allow the couple to slowly make their way down the ladder.
“The lady must have been on the veranda for a fair while,” he said. “She said her husband was inside. He must have crawled to where he was.”
Mrs Brennan told a neighbiour she tuned the eledctric blanket on to warm up the bed and went into the kitchen to make a cup of tea. Moments later she saw flames coming from the bedroom.
The couple were both treated for smoke inhalation and minor injuries and taken to Royal North Shore Hospital.
Mr Rayner-Harvey was taken to Northern Beaches Hospital to be checked for smoke inhalation but was released before 1am on Thursday morning.
“Looking at the house now, I’m just amazed that they got out...Uncle Jim and Aunty June have lost everything, but they’re alive,” he said.
“But this is a great street to live, a lot of people helped. I wouldn’t want to live anywhere else.”
The fire was extinguished by Fire & Rescue NSW units from Forestville, Dee Why, Willoughby, Crows Nest, Manly and Neutral Bay.
Forestville station officer John Duggin congratulated the residents of Dublin Ave for their “brilliant” efforts to save the Brennans and said a bravery award could be on its way.
“The neighbours were incredible, they’re the ones that take all the credit,” Mr Duggin said.
“It was one of the worst possible scenarios you could encounter, but they were brilliant.
They’ll be up for a bravery award of some sort.”
But Mr Rayner-Harvey humbly denied he and his neighbours were heroes.
“(The Brennans) are like grandparents to my children, we’re very close... anyone would have done the same,” he said.
“We’re a very tight-knit community… but we might have sandwiches instead of a barbeque next time we all catch up.”
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Community members have created an online GoFundMe donation page for the Brennans, whose possessions were destroyed in the inferno.