Incident - Noble Park house fire

by Angus Mair, Region 8

The Noble Park home after the fire

At 10:20am on Wednesday 17 September CFA received a call to a house fire in Noble Park.

Crews arrived to find a three bedroom brick veneer involved in fire. The blaze was in the lounge, dining, kitchen, laundry and rear porch.

Firefighters had to force entry into the house through the front door by using quick-cut equipment because the front door had been dead-locked. Wearing breathing apparatus the firefighters brought the fire under control with hoselines into the front and rear of the blazing house.

An elderly man at the house, Douglas Jansz aged 74, had been woken by a smoke alarm in the hallway leading to his bedroom. He tried to get out through the front door but had difficulty finding the correct key for the dead-lock.

A Royal District Nurse, John Bustos, was passing the house and alerted the Brigade by calling 000. He went to the front door and saw smoke coming under it and through the roof tiles. John began yelling to see if anyone was inside and Douglas said that he was inside and trapped. John heard Douglas trying desperately to find the right key to open the door. He told Douglas to stay calm and keep low. He then asked if Douglas could see the rear door and told him to go to the rear door where he met him and took him to safety.

Paramedics arrived on scene and treated Douglas for smoke inhalation. They also helped John who had suffered an asthma attack from inhaling smoke during his life-saving actions.

Damage to the building is close to $160,000 and contents up to $50,000. A car also sustained radiant heat damage; probably about $3,000 worth.

CFA Fire Investigators are currently determining the cause of the fire.