Man suffers burns battling house fire at Mackay

A Qld family is “traumatised” but thankful to be alive after a brave duo battled the blaze which broke out in an elderly woman’s home while her NSW family was visiting.

Sawa Briggs used the drawer of a fridge to extinguish the flames from under the house. Photo: Luke Lay

A brave son has miraculously escaped with minor injuries after putting out a fire with his bare hands, saving his 91-year-old mother’s house from burning down.

Firefighters were called to a home on Evan Street, South Mackay at 10pm Tuesday night following reports of smoke billowing from a two-storey timber house.

Paramedics assessed two patients at the scene taking one of the men, Darryl Briggs to the Mackay Base Hospital with smoke inhalation and burns to his hand.

Mr Briggs was released from hospital on Wednesday with minor injuries though the emotional toll of the event was still fresh in the minds of everyone involved.

“One of the ambers went into the kitchen and I just had to put it out,” he said.

Sawa Briggs and Darryl Briggs saved the timber house from being engulfed in flames, March 5, 2025

Dianne Briggs, Darryl’s sister who had come up with her son from Balina to visit her 91-year-old mother, said they were lucky to be alive.

“I had just been sitting on the back stairs talking to my daughter who said, ‘there’s smoke coming up from the fan’,” she said.

“I looked at the back window and all I could see was this big red glare.

“Next minute, my brother came in going ‘there’s a fire, there’s a fire, triple 0, triple 0’.

“He has a disability and usually faints, but he kept it together.”

Ms Brigg’s son Sawa managed to find a passage under the house to help extinguish the flames using a fridge drawer as a bucket for water.

“I thought we wouldn’t get it. I saw it raging but then it died down,” he said.

“It was a pretty scary night. I didn’t sleep much.”

After surviving a caravan fire at the age of 10 where over 60 per cent of his body suffered severe burns, Mr Briggs said last night’s ordeal had left him and his family traumatised.

It is unknown how the fire started though fire investigators are due to examine the site.

Thanks to house’s hard timber boards, the flames didn’t cut through quick enough to spread throughout the house.

“If this had been a pine house, we wouldn’t be here because the flames were that intense,” Mrs Briggs said.

“Thanks so much for all the ambos, police and fire brigade for their ultimate attention and helping.

“My mother’s 91 and they had to help her get down the stairs and put the fire out and make sure we were all safe.”

Originally published as Man suffers burns battling house fire at Mackay