Community members rallied together to help as flames engulfed a Canungra home last month, with neighbours acting quickly before emergency services arrived.
Police alleged a Riverbend Drive house was deliberately set alight just after 4pm on June 10, with the fire destroying the property.
Nearby resident Tracey Christoffel noticed an unusually large plume of smoke from the second storey of her home.
“We have a two-storey house, so we could see it over the neighbouring roofs,” she said.
“It was quite a thick plume of smoke, like more than what would be like a chimney fire.”
Her husband, Pat, immediately ran towards the property after seeing the smoke.
Mrs Christoffel said he covered about 200 metres before reaching the scene, where flames were already visible from the street.
Realising he needed water to help, Pat knocked on the door of neighbours Gillian and Mike Underwood to ask if he could use their garden hose.
Mrs Underwood said she had been watching television while her husband rested after feeling unwell when loud knocking at the front door caught her attention.
“I thought, ‘Well, what’s going on here?’” she said.
“These two fellas said, ‘Quick, get out, get out, grab your valuables and get out, there’s a fire. It’s just about to come to your place.’”
Mrs Underwood said the urgency of the warning quickly became clear.
“I thought for a moment it could have been two fellas that wanted to break in, but then I thought, ‘They’re genuine’,” she said.
Pat and another neighbour ran through the Underwoods’ house to the backyard to use the garden hose while Gillian woke her husband and gathered a handful of belongings in case they had to evacuate.
Mrs Underwood said the actions of neighbours and emergency services helped prevent an even greater tragedy.
“It was really frightening,” she said.
“But the services were brilliant. The fireys, the ambos and the police – you can’t fault them. They were very good.”
A 34-year-old Canungra man has since been charged with one count of arson (domestic violence offence).
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