Neighbours raised alarm, helped woman trapped in burning Rutherglen home

Bill and Marie Steele's Rutherglen home on Glasgow Street caught alight a short time before 7.40am on Monday, October 2.

A disoriented Mr Steele managed to escape the fire before realising his wife was stuck inside their bedroom, trapped by security locks.

He was unable to get back inside due to part of the home collapsing.

Flames had been pouring out, with the blaze so intense the fire rose well above the home's roof.

Their neighbours Lorraine and Colin Foster were alerted to the incident.

Mrs Foster had been hanging up washing and heard popping sounds before seeing "plumes of smoke that suddenly went up over the trees".

She raced to get her husband and called triple zero during the incident.

Mr Foster ran to the home with Mr Steele as they worked to free Mrs Steele.

"She was stuck in the bedroom because of security locks," Mr Foster said.

"We tried to get her out but we couldn't lift her over the window.

"I ended up pulling the window off its hinges and luckily she came out fairly easily.

"The smoke was that thick we couldn't see her.

"She couldn't see.

"We couldn't even see from the outside.

"It was a terrifying situation for her.

"She was fearing for her life."

The home was gutted with the pair escaping with only the clothes they were wearing.

Fire crews spent hours dousing the brick building.

Mrs Foster was emotional recalling the event from the scene on Monday.

"We are quite close to them," she said.

"They're a slightly older couple than us and we like to keep an eye on them, and they keep an eye on our place too.

"So I was really worried that they were still inside."

Mr Steele told his neighbours how unexpected the incident was.

"As Bill said to me, you see it on television but you never expect it's going to be your house," Mrs Foster said.

If the fire had occurred about an hour later, the neighbours wouldn't have been home to help.

They have offered for the pair to stay at their house while they sort out new accommodation.

Other offers of support have already been made to the pair, who are long term residents in the area.

"It's devastating," Mr Foster said, noting they were only left with the clothes they were wearing.

Lieutenant Mark Massey of the Rutherglen CFA said the fire had been "well under way" when crews arrived.

He said there had been 14 fire trucks and other support vehicles at the scene, with crews called from as far away as Wodonga.

Lieutenant Massey said water was pumped from nearby dams to battle the fire.

"If you've got smoke alarms, that's a step in the right direction to getting out safely," he said.

"Sometimes these things happen, if you've got something to alert you and keep you safe, that's the most important thing."

He said the fire didn't appear to be suspicious but was being investigated.

Paramedics assess the two occupants at the scene but neither were hospitalised.

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