{"id":392691,"date":"2026-01-05T08:01:12","date_gmt":"2026-01-05T08:01:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/392691\/"},"modified":"2026-01-05T08:01:12","modified_gmt":"2026-01-05T08:01:12","slug":"off-duty-firefighter-tries-to-save-man-from-fatal-wollongong-unit-fire","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/392691\/","title":{"rendered":"Off-duty firefighter tries to save man from fatal Wollongong unit fire"},"content":{"rendered":"

A man has died in a unit fire in Wollongong after an off-duty firefighter tried to save him.<\/p>\n

Emergency services arrived at the blaze on Kelly Street in Berkeley about 9:25am today.<\/p>\n

Fire and Rescue NSW (FRNSW) Wollongong Duty Commander Andrew Barber said an off-duty firefighter raised the alarm while he was walking through the suburb with his wife.<\/p>\n

“He noticed smoke issuing from the building, and he kicked the door in but couldn’t enter because of the ferocity of the fire,” Mr Barber said.<\/p>\n

“He put the initial Triple Zero call in, and because of the volume of calls coming in from other locals, they put four stations onto it.”<\/p>\n

\"image<\/p>\n

Wollongong Fire and Rescue NSW Commander Andrew Barber.\u00a0 (ABC Illawarra: Penny Burfitt)<\/p>\n

Crews from Dapto, Wollongong, Warrawong and Albion Park attended the scene and extinguished the fire within 15 minutes.<\/p>\n

“They entered the premises and found a male inside, but unfortunately, there was nothing they could do,” Mr Barber said.<\/p>\n

The man, believed to be in his 40s, was pulled from the flat where paramedics unsuccessfully tried to resuscitate him.<\/p>\n

Mr Barber said the man was thought to be the owner and occupant of the unit, which sustained minimal damage.<\/p>\n

The fire did not spread to neighbouring flats, and the other residents were unharmed.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Investigation underway<\/p>\n

Mr Barber said a FRNSW Fire Investigation Unit was on scene with NSW Police and an accelerant-detection dog.<\/p>\n

\"police<\/p>\n

NSW Police have established a crime scene to investigate the cause of the fire. (ABC Illawarra: Penny Burfitt)<\/p>\n

“It’s standard procedure for any fire fatalities that we bring the dog in to rule out any accelerant,” he said.<\/p>\n

“At this stage, we don’t think there is anything suspicious.”<\/p>\n

NSW Police confirmed they had established a crime scene and were investigating.<\/p>\n

“Anyone with CCTV or information is urged to come forward,” a spokesperson said in a statement.<\/p>\n

Appeal for caution<\/p>\n

Mr Barber said the death should remind people to be fire-safe at home.<\/p>\n

\"The<\/p>\n

The fire occurred in an attached row of five units, but didn’t spread to neighbouring residences. (ABC Illawarra: Penny Burfitt)<\/p>\n

He said anything from unattended stoves, to lint in the dryer, could start a fire.<\/p>\n

He said batteries had also contributed to an increasing number of house fires.<\/p>\n

“Just be careful where you charge your e-scooter, your mobility chair and your vacuum cleaners, everything is on a battery these days,” he said.<\/p>\n

Mr Barber said batteries should not be charged without a working smoke alarm, or be left on charge overnight.<\/p>\n

“Don’t charge them in a high-fuel area, like near a lounge or in a garage full of clutter. And don’t charge scooters and e-bikes near doors. Don’t block your exit.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A man has died in a unit fire in Wollongong after an off-duty firefighter tried to save him.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":392692,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[64,63,210071,88635,210070,210073,44,210072],"class_list":["post-392691","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-australia","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-berkeley-unit-fire","tag-fire-and-rescue-nsw","tag-frnsw","tag-man-dies-in-berkeley-fire","tag-news","tag-wollongong-fire-death"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/392691","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=392691"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/392691\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/392692"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=392691"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=392691"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=392691"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}