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SYDNEY - Heroic neighbours have come to the rescue of a 61-year-old man by pulling him from a house fire in Sydney's south.
The man was rushed to hospital with burns to 40 per cent of his body and smoke inhalation after a fire broke out in the second storey of his house in Grays Point.
Firefighters were called out to the blaze on Grays Point Road at about 1.25am (NZT 3.25am) today, where they found neighbours giving the man first aid on his front lawn.
They had pulled him from the fire after noticing smoke coming from the house, and hearing his calls for help.
"The neighbours actually removed him from the house, rescued him from the dwelling," a NSW Fire Brigades spokesman said.
"They had started first aid and they put a garden hose on him because he was severely burnt."
The man was treated at the scene by firefighters and ambulance officers before being rushed to St George Hospital.
Later in the morning he was transferred to Concord Hospital, where he remains in a critical condition.
The fire broke out in the lounge room of the house, gutting the room, the NSW Fire Brigades said.
It was contained to the loungeroom and a nearby bedroom, where neighbours found the man.
The fire is not being treated as suspicious, he said.
- AAP
