Hero mistaken for home invader
A young Sydney family has hidden in a burning home fearing the neighbours, who were trying to alert them, were home invaders.
The mother and her two little boys did managed to escape in time, but their Glendenning home is ruined.
Richard Menouhous and Dimity Boyd were first on the scene.
"[I] banged on the neighbours doors and windows, woke them up," Menouhous said.
Inside, was mum Shanhya Lal and her four-year-old twin sons. The trouble was, Shanhya thought the banging on her windows was intruders trying to get in.
She hid her little boys under a blanket, and called police.
"Flames were pretty high, they were coming up through the whirly bird," one neighbour told 7News.
"Just this cracking like fireworks was just intense," a witness said.
Shanhya realised what was actually happening just in time, escaping with her children as firefighters extinguished the blaze.
But the firefight was not as easy as it sounds. When firies arrived they could not find the hydrant, it was buried and unmarked right out the front of the home.
Shanhya's husband Arvind came back today, thanking those who saved his family.
"Thank you," Arvind said shaking Richard Menouhous' hand.
"No worries mate [we're] neighbours, we do this," Menouhous replied.
Police are investigating, but say it is not being treated as suspicious.
