Fire victim makes safety appeal

By Alison Noonan
DENNIS Luke often wakes in the middle of the night in a cold sweat.
Eight weeks on and the terror of the night fire that destroyed the Hampton Park man’s home and almost claimed the lives of his family still haunts him.
Mr Luke was described as being a hero after catching his wife, Margaret and two children, Elliott, 11, and Belinda, 9, in his arms as they jumped to safety from the second storey of their Templar Avenue home in the early hours of 28 August.
However, he is determined to move on from the tragedy and is speaking out about the importance of fire safety in the home in a bid to prevent the same thing happening to another family.
“We want to take the opportunity to put the fire safety message out there and make people aware of how easy it is for something like this to happen,” Mr Luke said.
“I want to get people thinking from our experience. You can’t take it for granted that the same thing won’t happen to you.
“There’s a lesson here and that makes it easier for me to talk about it.”
Mr Luke said his family’s wellrehearsed fire plan almost certainly saved their lives, reducing the panic that could easily take hold of someone unsure what to do in an emergency.
“The fire took just seven minutes to take hold and completely destroy our home,” he said.
“It was very frightening. Terrifying.
“It’s not something you expect to wake up to at 5am on a Sunday morning.
“And that’s why a fire plan is so important. If we didn’t have a plan, where would we be?”
Mr Luke said he replayed his actions on the night of the fire in his head almost every day.
But he said he wouldn’t do anything differently.
“There are times I wake up in the middle of the night and think about different scenarios.
“What if I did this or what if this happened?
“I’ve gone over and over it in my head trying to figure out what I could have done better.
“But I don’t believe there was any other way of dealing with it. I think I did the right thing.”
Mr Luke emphasised the significance of working smoke detectors in the home and the need to turn all electrical items off at the power switch when not in use.
“We found out that our fire was caused by a faulty component in the television, even though it wasn’t on at the time.
“We have also discovered that toasters and driers are the two major causes of fire in the home.
“Deadlocks on the inside of doors do not need to be locked if you are at home, and make sure you assess your contents insurance every few years.”
He said the community support in the wake of the tragedy had been overwhelming and praised the kindness of complete strangers who donated to the family in its time of need.
“We were given the use of a loan car for four weeks, a Berwick family lent us their house while they were away for six weeks, we were all given new glasses, and there were just so many other acts of kindness,” Mr Luke said.
“We are indebted to all these people.
“We haven’t fully overcome this yet. It is something we will take with us for the rest of our lives.
“It is still sinking in but we are slowly getting back on track.
“We plan to rebuild on the same block and although Christmas will be hard, we will get through it.
“We have to be positive.
“As long as people get the fire safety message, that’s all I care about.”