A 13-year-old son is being celebrated as a hero after he saved his sleeping parents from a blaze that destroyed their home.
The fire was ignited in the early hours of the morning by an unattended candle in the bathroom of a Happy Valley home in South Australia.
The parents of the young teen, Sue and Darren who chose to keep their last names anonymous, are happy to be alive and uninjured despite the wreckage of their home.
‘You saved us sweetheart – you’re a hero,’ Sue, 48, said to Matthew her son.
Sue and Darren were sound asleep when the fire began to flicker at around 5am, sleeping through their fire alarm.
Matthew, 13, is being hailed a hero after he noticed the fire starting in his house (pictured) and woke his parents
Luckily for the couple, Matthew recognised that something was wrong and took immediate action to wake his parents.
‘My son came down and goes ‘mum, there’s smoke’ and we went into the bathroom and it was in the bathroom,’ Sue said.
Upon waking, the heroes father, David, 44, initially thought it was a small fire before noticing that it had spread into the wall cavity and up to the ceiling.
‘I ran outside to get the hose because I thought I might be able to minimise the damage…and it was (coming) out of the eaves and before I knew it I could see the glare of the flames through the (roof) tiles,’ he said.
Due to the impressive efforts of Matthew, the whole family were evacuated safely. This includes their RSCPA adopted cat, Crompton and two dogs, Albie and Henry.
The couple’s 15-year-old daughter Chelsea happened to be away for the night and it’s believed her room sustained least damage.
In a desperate hurry to salvage their belongings, Darren tried to grab some items. He managed to successfully retrieve the computer but as the airconditioning ducts fell from the ceiling and the flames continue to grow, he was forced to leave everything else behind.
For almost an hour the – lucky to be safe – family had to watch emergency services crew contain and extinguish the fire that cost $400,000 in damage.
Sue said that the family watched their house burn down as things that they worked hard to own had disappeared within half an hour.
She hopes that their story will remind others who use candles to remain vigilant and said that the family won’t use candles in their home ever again.
The family was forced to watch their house burn (pictured), causing damage of $400,000