By Callum Ludwig
One occupant of a home in Wesburn has been taken to hospital after a blaze erupted in the early hours of Saturday 25 May.
Thirteen CFA units responded from Wesburn/Millgrove, Hillcrest, Yarra Junction, Yellingbo and Little Yarra brigades at 4.44am.
“Crews worked to extinguish a fire in a multi-storey structure,” a CFA spokesperson said.
“Victoria Police and the local power company were also called to the scene.”
An Ambulance Victoria spokesperson confirmed one woman in her 40s was transported by road ambulance to Maroondah Public Hospital with upper body injuries.
Wesburn/Millgrove CFA Captain Sascha Grant said the house was fully involved when they arrived.
“The one occupant in the house had self-evacuated by the time we got there and was suffering from a bit of smoke inhalation so Ambulance Victoria looked after them and transported them to hospital for observation,” he said.
“Surprisingly enough, we were able to contain the fire to the first floor, it was a double-storey house and the construction of the property was conducive to saving the ground floor, which was a really good result for our members,”
“They started their initial attack through the windows externally, and once it was safe to do so, we had crews that went into the structure and extinguished the remaining hot spots on the first floor internally.”
The brick home’s foundation was a poured slab concrete floor, with both believed to have reduced the impact of the fire on the building’s structural integrity.
Mr Grant said after an initial assessment deemed it safe to proceed into the house, firefighters entered through the staircase at the rear of the building.
“They’re (the firefighters) trained to minimise the impact on the building and when going inside, they’re looking for any structural weaknesses or signs of collapse, that’s part of their training when they do structural firefighting and it’s a step-by-step process and they certainly won’t go if there are any signs it’s not safe to do so,” he said.
The incident was deemed under control at 5.24am and declared safe at 5.34am.
Mr Grant said this is the second house fire in the area in the last couple of weeks, so it really is a timely reminder to brush up on fire safety measures.
“Check your smoke alarms are working, if you’ve got a coonara or open fire to have your flues cleared out and checked, and if you can, practice your home fire safety plan because the resident of our house on Saturday morning did an amazing job getting out of that house and staying as safe as possible,” he said.
“It might seem a bit silly at the time, but at three o’clock in the morning or five o’clock in the morning, as this one was, having practised that plan will save your life.”
