Hampton Park dad Ron McLachlan won’t forget this year’s Father’s Day in a hurry after he rescued three young girls from their burning home. Picture: Meagan Trotter.By Alison Noonan
HAMPTON PARK toddler was rescued from her burning cot as her younger sister watched helplessly.
It was a terrifying Father’s Day for their neighbour, Ron McLachlan, who heard the girls’ cries and burst into the Bateman Grove home after the blaze started about 9.15am.
Mr McLachlan, a father of five and selfconfessed “everyday dad who doesn’t do the hero thing”, said he found the children, aged three and four, trapped and crying in a front bedroom and carried them to safety under his arms.
The fire came exactly a week after Hampton Park resident Dennis Luke rescued his wife and two children from their burning home on Sunday, 28 August.
Mr McLachlan said the girls’ 16yearold aunt was babysitting the pair and their sixyearold sister.
“I was just about to leave my house to go clean up at our new house when I heard screams coming from the house across the road,” he said. “I saw thick black smoke coming from the roof and ran to the back yard, where the aunt was yelling on the phone to the police. I rushed inside to look for the kids and the eldest girl followed me in,” he said.
Mr McLachlan said the rest of the rescue mission was a blur as he entered the bedroom to find the toddler standing at the end of her cot and her younger sister crying on the floor beside her.
“The wall and part of the cot was on fire,” he said. “The girls were crying but they weren’t screaming. I can’t really recall what I did next. I just grabbed them, threw them over the back fence to my family and went back in for the third girl.
“The odd part about it was that none of the toddlers’ clothes were scorched or burnt. It wasn’t until she (the threeyearold) said she was sore and we lifted her nightie that we discovered her skin was burnt,” he said.
The toddler was taken to the Royal Children’s Hospital with burns to 20 per cent of her body and her sisters were unharmed.
Mr McLachlan, a delivery driver, said fate kept him at his house to save the family.
“We were meant to move house on Saturday but we didn’t,” he said.
“Thank God we were there because the girls wouldn’t be alive otherwise. We were told that another 30 seconds to a minute later and they would have perished.”
Mr McLachlan snubbed claims he was a hero, stating he just did what he had to do to save the kids.
“People at work are calling me a hero but I just did what any normal person would do,” he said.
“I didn’t think about it, I just did it. And that’s odd for me because I’m not one to jump into things.
“But I’ve done a good thing and I’m happy.”
Hampton Park Country Fire Authority Captain Shane Keen said it took crews from Hampton Park and Hallam about 10 minutes to control the blaze, which was confined to the master bedroom.
“The bedroom was fairly fire damaged and the rest of the house suffered extensive smoke damage,” he said. “All up we estimate around $30,000 damage.
“Fortunately the kids were out of the house by the time we arrived. The neighbours did a wonderful job to get them out as quickly as they did.”
Captain Keen said the fire was caused by one of the children playing with matches.
“I urge people to put all matches, lighters and flammables in high places and well out of the reach of children,” he said. “Make sure you are watching your kids at all times and are aware of what they are doing.”
