Georgie Dent screamed when she was told her beloved dog had been killed in a fire last week.
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But the 11-year-old Henty girl could have lost a lot more, if not for the heroic actions of a neighbour.
Her grandmother Val Dent, shared the harrowing moments she almost lost everything, when a machine-sparked fire erupted near the railway line at Henty on Tuesday.
Ms Dent assumed the smell of smoke outside had been from a nearby burn-off at the time.
Little did she know, in mere minutes, the flames would come within inches of her home.
When she went to the window and saw the fire tearing through her garden, the 71-year-old flew into a panic, searching for her three small dogs.
“I was racing around like a chicken with its head cut off,” Ms Dent said.
“That’s when Kurt from next door flew in and said: ‘Get out of the house, it’s going to go up’.”
Billabong High School principal, Kurt Wawszkowicz had seen the blaze from across the street and had rushed to help.
“It was like wildfire,” Ms Dent said. “It was like: ‘Whoosh’ … it was unbelievable.”
With flames licking the garage walls, Mr Wawszkowicz grabbed Ms Dent’s car keys to get it away from the fire, before racing back to protect the weatherboard home with water from a garden hose.
This was all before Fire and Rescue NSW firefighters had arrived.
“Without him I don’t know what the hell would have happened,” Ms Dent said. “I don’t want to think about it.”
The 71-year-old said she was grateful her home was saved and that her granddaughter had been visiting a friend at the time.
But what haunted her was the death of her beloved 16-year-old hairy Jack Russell terrier, Badger, who fell victim to the flames.
“I don’t care about things that can be mended,” Ms Dent said. “But your little dog … I don’t know if he suffered … it’s wrecking my mind all weekend.”
Ms Dent said it was disappointing the workers who allegedly sparked the fire had not made contact.
“It really gets to me,” she said. “It’s common decency.”
Mr Wawszkowicz said he had only done what he hoped any decent person would.
“The fire got really big really quickly,” Mr Wawszkowicz said.
“I was trying to do risk calculations about the danger, but when you know the person, there’s not a whole lot of thinking you do.”
Helpers soon joined the principal, running to help from across the road.
“The reaction from community was great. There would have been a good number of people there,” Mr Wawszkowicz said.
“You want to be there for people. I was glad to help.”
