Incredible moment farmers fight a raging inferno with a garden hose and save their property from a bushfire that flattened 16 homes on their street
- The inferno destroyed 16 homes in Dargan, near Lithgow, over the weekend
- Local Liam Francis took on a 30-metre-high raring inferno using a garden hose
- Mr Francis’s mate Jack Dzwinek captured the heart-stopping video footage
- The two men saved their home, but a caravan and a car went up in flames
Two brave men managed to save their home from an out-of-control bushfire using nothing more than a garden hose, while 16 surrounding houses went up in flames.
Incredible footage captured by Jack Dzwinek showed his mate Liam Francis taking on a 30-metre-high inferno in the small town of Dargan, near Lithgow, over the weekend.
Mr Dzwinek could be heard yelling for Mr Francis to get down on the ground.
‘Liam, down on the ground!,’ Mr Dzwinek shouted, while his friend hosed the inferno, which was being fuelled by powerful gusts of wind.
Two brave men managed to save their home from an out-of-control bushfire using nothing more than a garden hose
‘That’s it mate… Get the dogs! Get the dogs! Come on bro, jump in, come on,’ Mr Dzwinek yelled urging his friend to hop in their car and flee. ‘Holy f**k, oh f**k.
‘I lost my caravan and shipping container and car and whatever else is up there, but main thing is the house is all good,’ Mr Dzwinek told Nine News.
Mr Francis said he ‘just battled on’ to save his home.
‘I just kept spraying red things, and it sort of sorted itself out,’ he said.
Firefighters praised the two men for their bravery.
The two men saved their home, but a caravan, shipping container and a car went up in flames. Pictured left to right: Jack Dzwinek and Liam Francis
‘When we came back up the street after it was all over, the firies shook our hands and said like, ”good to see you, we didn’t think we’d see you”,’ Mr Dzwinek said.
But just a few doors up, residents Susan and Nick Alexander lost their home.
‘Our home is completely gone, sheds are melted, everything’s exploded… we have nothing,’ she said. ‘We’re just devastated’.
‘[The firefighters] were doing so well, but the fire has come around another way and it’s attacked another way.’
Ms Alexander said her 79-year-old neighbour’s home was also wiped out in the fire.
NSW Police Chief Inspector Chris Sammut confirmed up to five properties were burned in Lithgow on Saturday while about 30 buildings were lost in Clarence and Dargan.
Those numbers include sheds and other structures.
About 350 residential homes in Lithgow remained without power on Sunday afternoon.
Crews are expected to experience more favourable weather conditions in coming days as they work to limit the spread of some 110 fires, of which almost 60 are uncontained.
NSW Rural Fire Service commissioner Shane Fitzsimmons said firefighters would take advantage of better conditions this week, which should include temperatures in the mid-20s, higher humidity and easterly winds.
The biggest focus will be on preparing vulnerable Blue Mountains communities ahead of hotter and more challenging conditions returning next weekend.
‘With the easing weather conditions today, crews are working hard to strengthen containment lines,’ the RFS said in a statement on Sunday.
‘Planning is underway for large scale back burns today in the Blue Mountains to contain the Grose Valley Fire.’
NSW Police Chief Inspector Chris Sammut confirmed up to five properties were burned in Lithgow on Saturday while about 30 buildings were lost in Clarence and Dargan
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