MELBOURNE HOUSE FIRE HORROR! Mum Smashes Through Window to Save Her Son as Flames Spread in Seconds 😱
A young mother who smashed through a window to escape a Melbourne house fire with her son has issued a strong message to others about how fast a blaze develops.
The fire started in Laura Gulbin’s Bundoora home when a power bank ignited and quickly started devouring the 1970s property she had been lovingly renovating over the past year.
The smoke alarm was triggered early and thinking the fire was manageable and she had plenty of time to get out, she went to grab her keys.
“The fire was relatively small and at one stage I thought, I could try and get this out myself,” she told 7NEWS.com.au on Wednesday.
“But I could not believe how fast it was going.”
The danger all became clear when she ran to get her car keys from a high-up shelf where she keeps them out of reach of her children.
As she reached for them she breathed in the toxic air that had risen to the ceiling.
“It would have been an easy escape, but because of the carbon monoxide and the gas, I almost passed out trying to access my keys from high up,” Laura said.
Realising the fire had rapidly escalated, she moved to plan B.
“I knew that I could get out through the windows if I smashed it,” she said.
‘And then I jumped’
Laura was home with her son Clancy, who has autism and is non-verbal.
“He was amazing,” Laura said. “He stuck with me, and when I smashed the glass and told him to climb out, he did exactly that.
“And then I jumped.”
It was only a small jump to the floor below, but once there, Laura came up against her next challenge.
As her home is located in part of a court with others surrounding it, she needed to access the garage internally to get out.
“Everything was locked up,” she said.
Laura called out for help as the inferno raged on, and her neighbour Dan sprang into action.
“He was just incredible,” she said. “He looked over the fence, saw that we were okay and climbed over.”
He helped Laura to open a garage door internally, so that she could get outside where she called firefighters and Clancy’s dad.
She said Dan’s heroic actions have reminded her of the importance of “old-school neighbour connections.”
‘An extraordinary act of courage’
Melissa Gulbin, who has organised a GoFundMe to support Laura and her family, called the escape “an extraordinary act of courage.”
“Laura managed to save both herself and her special needs son, Clancy, by smashing a window to escape the flames.”
Clancy has now been discharged from hospital, and Laura is expected to make a full recovery after she was in the ICU with burns to her throat.
But Melissa said, “The fire has left her with almost nothing.”
“Although Laura’s home is insured, contents were not covered. This means there are immediate essential costs, as well as the significant expense of setting up a home again once she is able to do so.”
One thing that remains is gratitude for their survival.
“I was very excited to get my own house about a year ago and I’ve just been chipping away at, you know, renovating what hadn’t been touched from the 1970s,” Laura said.
“But you and your loved ones are the most important things.
“It’s about getting yourself out as fast as you can, and not worrying about stuff, because stuff comes and goes.”
