On Sunday 4 October, Kev Renshaw was working at the computer at about 9 pm. His dogs started barking and alerted him to the fact that there two strangers at his front gate. When he went out to see what all the fuss was about, he saw the man point up to the roof - it was on fire! Kev's memory is patchy about what happened from then on, but somebody called 000 and the Fire Brigade responded immediately and was there in four minutes with two fire engines. When they arrived the fire was out of control, but within minutes they had it under control. Steve Hockey of the NSW Fire Brigade said that it is very important to call 000 in an emergency rather than a local number. When you call 000 the whole fire brigade team is paged at once so that they can attend the fire in the quickest possible time. If there had been a delay of even a few minutes, the results would have been much more devastating and in half an hour the house would have been razed to the ground. As it was, the house, built in the early 1870s, was saved and is still structurally sound; Kev's three dogs, who were cowering under the bed in fear, were able to be brought out of the house by one of the Firies; and Kev himself was safe too. What is even more amazing is that Kev is currently working on his family history and had important documents out as well as many old photos spread over his dining table and they are all undamaged.

Steve Hockey, who attended the fire, said that this is a wake-up call to everyone. Fires can happen when you least expect it and it is essential to have a fire detector installed and maintained in your house. Fire detectors are able to detect smoke in your house before you are aware of it and those extra minutes make all the difference between an unpleasant experience and a tragedy.