A 10 year-old girl has saved hers and her family's lives after she woke to a smoke alarm sounding as flames took hold of their home on Wednesday morning.
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A fire had broken out at the Mitchell Street home at Wee Waa in the early hours of the morning, quickly taking hold of the weatherboard structure.
The family inside made a miraculous escape, firefighters said, after a young girl woke to the smoke alarm going off.
Fire and Rescue NSW crews, including the Hazmat unit, were called to the scene after several triple zero calls, backed by police and the local RFS brigade.
Firefighters were called to the scene around 6.10am and said fire could be seen leaping from the house when they arrived.
"Residents of the house had self-evacuated. Amazingly a 10-year-old girl was woken to the sound of a smoke detector in full alarm mode and was able to wake the rest of the residents and escape safely," a Fire and Rescue NSW spokesperson said, adding that the girl's quick action to rouse her family and raise the alarm had saved their lives.
Crews worked for an hour to bring the blaze under control, but were unable to save the home.
Police said they were still investigating what may have caused the fire.
"When 399 Narrabri station arrived crews were rotated for salvage and overhaul process," the Fire and Rescue NSW spokesperson said. "The house contains asbestos so crews had to be decontaminated and the house had to be sprayed with a glue solution to contain and further asbestos exposure."
Wee Waa Fire and Rescue station commander Bruce Cowan said it was clear the smoke alarms save lives.
"We cannot stress enough the importance of having working smoke alarms installed on every level of the house," he said.
"If you have one and think it is out of date or not working or simply do not have one, we are asking you to contact us, we can install 10-year worry free smoke alarms and help you have your house as safe as possible."
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