Simon Hinneberg, Kyneton CFA volunteer’s ute crushed by Leared Ave home tree

A veteran firefighter, who returned home from a call-out for help, escaped seconds before a tree crushed his ute. Here’s how he cheated death.

CFA volunteer Simon Hinneberg just escaped death and had his work ute crushed in the storms. The tree is still on the ute, as well as his house, in Kyneton, Victoria. Picture: Alex Coppel.

A veteran CFA volunteer who raised support and awareness for victims of the Eastern Freeway police tragedy, cheated death after helping out in Victoria’s wild storms.

Kyneton’s Simon Hinneberg, a 30-year volunteer, returned home at 4am on Thursday after responding to a gas leak.

Mr Hinneberg said he saw three trees smash into his neighbours’ front yard, and wife Kristen screamed at him to get to safety.

The firefighter rushed into the alcove of his Leared Ave home, as a tree fell and “literally flattened” his work ute, also hitting the front of the house.

“The tiles came down and I just made it, if the alcove wasn’t there, the tree would have got me, without a doubt,” Mr Hinneberg said.

“I’ve been through Black Saturday, the (1998) Linton fires, so I don’t get scared easily, but this was up there.

“I’ve never seen any winds like it, and we (his family) were all sitting around with torches waiting for the next tree to come down.”

The ute was the work vehicle for Mr Hinneberg’s printing and graphic design business, which created stickers in support of Victoria Police following last year’s Eastern Freeway tragedy.

He said he would struggle to operate his business without his ute.

“It breaks your heart, and it’ll cost us money to get things up and running again, but at the end of the day, it’s just a car and a house,” he said.

Mr Hinneberg’s CFA colleagues rushed to his aid on Thursday with offers of help for the damage to his ute and home.

The damage at CFA volunteer Simon Hinneberg’s house in Kyneton, Victoria. Picture: Alex Coppel.

He is also set to get a loan vehicle from Mercedes Benz Berwick, after details of his ordeal were made public.

“I feel embarrassed, there’s people much more worse off than me, its really unexpected,” Mr Hinneberg said.

“It makes things like this easier to deal with, humanity is well and truly alive, and we live in a grouse community.”