A major house fire in Diamond Creek resulted in the rescue of a number of pets, as well as great operational work by all the firefighters and other agencies at the incident.
Roxy receiving oxygen therapy from Diamond Creek Fire Brigade 2nd Lieutenant Noel Farmer, after being rescued from under a tall boy in the burnt out home
Just before 1pm on Friday 3 August, Diamond Creek Fire Brigade responded to a reported house fire. There were multiple Triple Zero (000) calls reporting flames coming through the roof, as well as extensive amounts of smoke from the structure.
Diamond Creek pumper turned out at 1pm and arrived on scene two minutes later. A control point was established and a 360 degree size-up was quickly carried out by the Incident Controller and Diamond Creek Captain Peter Clarkson.
A pair of BA operators was sent in to do a primary search, while an exposure line was established on the northern side of the property to protect a neighbouring property. A 64mm feed into the primary truck (the Diamond Creek pumper) was quickly established, with a second feed established soon after from a hydrant some distance away.
In addition to the Diamond Creek pumper and tanker 2, Eltham pumper, Wattle Glen tanker 1, Plenty pumper tanker, Eltham BA Support, MFB pumper tanker 16, Ambulance Victoria and Police were on scene.
The rostered duty officer put out a community advice message in relation to the amount of smoke in the area.
Eltham career firefighters were second on scene and provided fantastic support and mentoring. All agencies worked together flawlessly.
With neighbours and friends of the homeowner on scene, the crews were quickly able to determine that there were two dogs and two cats inside. With the assistance of the bystanders, the first of the two dogs and one of the cats were quickly rescued. The second cat, Storm, was seen running from the property and was later reunited with the owner. The second dog, Roxy, was found later by Heather Scale, a member of Plenty Fire Brigade, cowering under a tall boy in a bedroom. Once rescued, Roxy received oxygen therapy from Diamond Creek Fire Brigade 2nd Lieutenant Noel Farmer.
A comprehensive overhaul of the property was conducted after it had been extinguished. A thermal imaging camera was used to find and cool any hot spots. After this activity, the crew worked with the homeowner to identify where precious items were located in the home and these were successfully retrieved despite the home being largely destroyed by fire or damaged significantly by smoke or water.
While doing overhaul and retrieval, Channel 7 media arrived on scene and captured some interviews which were later shown on the day's 6pm news.
Later, fire investigators arrived to determine the cause of the fire.
While there were lessons learned from this job, the fundamentals of safety first, RECEO, teamwork and respect were foremost in the minds of all involved and clearly observed. All the crews on scene (volunteer and career from multiple agencies) worked seamlessly together and were very supportive of one another.
A special thanks to SO Michael Doreian from Eltham Fire Brigade who was especially supportive of all the volunteer and career firefighters on scene.