Tradie heroes rescue an elderly man from burning house in Geelong

A pair of electrical workers have been lauded as heroes after rescuing a 98-year-old man from a burning house in Geelong.

PowerCor linesmen, Ben Neville and Mitch Cuthill, were working on a power pole in Hamlyn Heights when they spotted a fire at around 10pm last night.

Mr Neville said he was up a power pole when he saw the blaze, which he initially thought was a backyard bonfire.

“It was pretty quiet around and I thought that was strange for there to be a bonfire in the backyard and no music or anyone talking,” he told 3AW’s Nick McCallum.

The pair went to investigate and found smoke coming from the roof of the property.

“We started banging on the door, no response,” Mr Neville said.

“We were yelling out, getting nothing, so we smashed the front window.”

Smoke filled the house and woke the elderly occupant, who got himself to the front door but struggled to unlock it.

“I could feel the heat on the door so it was obviously pretty hot inside,” Mr Neville said.

The man eventually managed to unlock the door, but collapsed before escaping the burning house.

Luckily, the two linesmen were able to push the door open and rescue the man.

Mr Cuthill said the elderly man was not in a good way when they got him out of the house.

“He looked like he was struggling a fair bit. Ben sort of just caught him as he was collapsing,” he said.

“He was looking exhausted, his hand was burnt from the doorknob and we were just worried about him.”

The good samaritans say they aren’t heroes.

“Anyone would do the same thing in the same situation,” Mr Cuthill said.

The Country Fire Authority brought the blaze under control in 20 minutes.

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