The four occupants of a Queenstown house escaped unharmed when it was severely damaged by fire yesterday.
Four crews from the Queenstown and Frankton volunteer fire brigades went to the blaze in Nugget Knob, Goldfield Heights, along with a command unit from Alexandra, after the alarm was raised by a rubbish truck worker about 10.30am.
Queenstown Chief Fire Officer Terry O’Connell said the two-storey house, one of two adjoining units, was well involved when they arrived.
It took about 15 minutes to put out, leaving the upper floor, a bedroom, "pretty much blacked out", Mr O’Connell said.
The adjoining unit had light smoke damage.
Next-door neighbour Alan von Tunzelman said he was alerted to the fire by a friend working on a building site several hundred metres away.
"He called and asked me if I was all right, because he could see smoke."
Mr von Tunzelman said he went outside to see flames coming from the house’s eaves, "horrendous smoke" and its four occupants — three men and a woman — standing unharmed in their driveway.
He then tried fighting the fire with his garden hose.
"You can’t sit here and do nothing."
Fire crews came just in time, he said.
"It was at the stage when it could’ve been a conflagration in a few minutes."
