Mother and son lucky to be alive after Cheltenham fire
A 27-year-old man is lucky to be alive after a massive blaze tore through his house this morning. Firefighters arrived on scene and managed to pull the young man from the inferno.
South East
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Firefighters saved a young man’s life when they pulled him out of a raging house fire in Cheltenham this morning.
The young man was asleep when the inferno erupted about 5.30am, engulfing the Kelmar St property in flames.
Fortunately the 27-year-old’s mum was awake and managed to escape the property and alert firefighters, who arrived in five minutes.
“When we arrived we immediately put breathing apparatus on and did a search for the young guy,” commander Rob Joyce said.
“We managed to rescue the young bloke from inside the house and thankfully the other occupant, his mum, had already escaped.”
But things could’ve ended a lot differently had firefighters not been alerted so quickly.
The house had no working smoke alarms, and Mr Joyce said both residents were extremely lucky to escape unharmed.
“In an emergency every second counts and smoke alarms are the first line of defence,” he said.
“The residents were extremely lucky and the young man was very relieved when we got him out.
“This is just another example and why the message is so important to have multiple working fire alarms in your house.”
The fire, which is believed to have started from an electrical heater malfunction, spread through the roof of the house and threatened neighbouring houses.
At the height of the fire, 28 firefighters battled the blaze and managed to bring it under control in 15 minutes, but Mr Joyce said a lot of the house couldn’t be saved.
“It won’t be able to be reoccupied for some time, and the residents are looking for alternative accommodation,” he said.
Ambulance Victoria assessed the mother and son at the scene and neither were taken to hospital.
A warning was issued asking Cheltenham residents to avoid the area due to the amount of smoke.
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