A man has been seriously injured after a house fire south of Yass overnight.
At about 1am Sunday 6 June 2021, emergency services from both NSW and the ACT responded to reports of a house fire in Gooromon Ponds Road, Wallaroo.
Eight occupants were able to escape the home when a fire broke out; however, an 83-year-old man suffered smoke inhalation and burns.
He was treated at the scene by ACT Ambulance officers before being taken to Canberra Hospital.
Fire and Rescue NSW, ACT Fire and Rescue, and Wallaroo Rural Fire Service worked to control the blaze, but the home was destroyed.
Officers from The Hume Police District attended, established a crime scene and commenced an investigation.
The fire is not being treated as suspicious.
Murrumbateman House Fire
There was yet another fire in Murrumbateman last Wednesday night.
Murrumbateman Rural Fire Service was paged at 5:42pm, and left the scene at 9:30pm.
“It started from what we believe at this point was the chimney,” said Murrumbateman RFS Captain Richard Alley.
“They’d just started the fire up, went to grab something and came back, and the roof was on fire,” he said.
The fire originally couldn’t be accessed, but with the house material being quite soft, it quickly spread to two rooms.
“It started in the roof space, so we couldn’t access it.”
“The house was made of Oregon framing, so it took off really quick and because it’s soft material and with big open rooms, the fire behaviour was intense,” he said.
The team were able to contain the fire somewhat due to some quick thinking.
“We shut all the doors and windows of the house to starve the fire of oxygen, so it would put itself out basically and then made entries through the front door keeping the gases cool until fire and rescue showed up.”
“We saved the house and just lost two rooms,” said Richard.
With a rise in house fires in recent weeks, Richard wanted to use this event to remind all within the community of the importance of cleaning out chimneys.
“Chimneys should be cleaned out on a regular basis.”
“Definitely, as we’re coming into winter, before you light it, you should get it all cleaned,” said Richard.
The occupants of the fire-damaged house received an outpouring of support on social media, with the Murrumbateman community promising to rally behind them.
Max O’Driscoll
