Boy, 12, drives himself and dog to safety after escaping bushfires
A 12-year-old boy from the Western Australian town of Mogumber drove himself and his pet dog towards safety after bushfires raged dangerously close to his family home.
Luke Sturrock was alone at home on Sunday while a fast-moving blaze threatened properties in the town of Mogumber, north of Perth.
His father and older brother were out fighting the blaze and told Luke that if flames came to close to their house, he should take shelter at an orange tree about 4km from their property.
As the fire began to close in around the home, Luke grabbed his pet dog and jumped in the family’s Ford Ranger ute and took off.
After an hour or so of driving through paddocks, firefighters found Luke and took over the wheel, driving him to a nearby police roadblock.
"Typical farm boy, he was pretty clever, I think the problem was he just didn't quite know where to go and it was hard to see with all the smoke," Craig Spencer, of the Bindoon Bushfire Brigade, told ABC Radio Perth.
Dalwallinu Police posted about the incident on Twitter and said that Luke has been reunited with his family and is safe and well.
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