Neighbours save house

The house was saved from the fire by quick-thinking neighbours.

By Margaret Maccoll

The quick action of neighbours to phone the Queensland Fire and Emergency Service saved a house in McAnally Drive, Sunshine Beach from certain destruction on Friday.
Noosa Heads acting fire station officer Greg Abbott said they were called to the fire in a shed at the rear of a house about 11am.
A neighbour across the street said she’d gone inside to make a coffee when she smelt something burning. She looked out from her front deck to see black smoke across the road.
“My neighbour had already rung for the fire brigade,” she said.
Luckily a friend had just arrived to visit the neighbour, so they were out the front. They called triple-zero and called the owners of the property who had left earlier.
She said they were discussing getting a hose when firefighters arrived.
“They sprang into action and put it out quickly,” she said.
Greg said thick black smoke was billowing from the shed when they arrived and some paint cans stored inside were exploding. He said the owners, having been alerted to it, were right behind them following from the Junction to their house.
Greg said three units attended the fire and managed to contain it to the shed without it spreading to the house. With a large quantity of items stored in the shed, it took firefighters a while to extinguish it, he said.
“They were really lucky,” he said. “It could have been a different story.”