Tradie saves trapped stranger as home set alight by neighbour's NYE fireworks
Police responded to dozens of firework-related incidents but this one nearly cost an innocent disabled woman her life.
A tradie has been hailed a hero for pulling a disabled woman out of her badly burning home after it was inadvertently set alight by wayward fireworks set off by her neighbours.
The fireworks were lit to mark the beginning of the new year just after midnight on Monday morning but the backyard celebrations quickly turned deadly when parts of the woman's nearby property were engulfed in flames on Tootgarook street in Melbourne's south.
Local carpenter Jon Croft happened to be passing by at the time and jumped into action when he heard a woman screaming for help. The wheelchair-bound woman was unable to exit the house under her own will and was lucky someone managed to hear her cries for help.
"About 50 per cent of her bedroom was on fire and she was stuck in there and it was getting worse by the second," he told 9News. "[I'm a] little shaken now just thinking about it."
Croft managed to rescue the 57-year-old resident through her bedroom window on the ground floor. She suffered burns to her arms but Victoria Police confirmed to Yahoo News Australia she was taken to hospital with non-life threatening injuries. Croft escaped with only a few cuts and bruises.
Daughter 'very grateful' for tradie's life-saving actions
The woman's daughter was reportedly not at the home when the incident occurred but admitted she was "very grateful" for Croft putting himself in harms way to save her disabled mum.
"A poor innocent woman in her house, she would have been scared," the daughter reflected.
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Victoria Police responded to over 60 firework-related incidents during New Year celebrations, with multiple resulting in serious injuries and fires from people illegally setting off the explosives.
In Altona a 48-year-old woman was struck in the face by an illegal firework and suffered serious injuries which authorities warn may cost her an eye. Another incident which involved a backyard fire in Melbourne's northeast left 11 attendees being rushed to hospital, with one suffering life-threatening injuries.
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