Ballarat has rallied behind a young Sulky family after they were almost killed in a massive house fire at the weekend.
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Anita Fabos was in bed with her husband Raj Singh and their son Gabriel, 4, when she suddenly smelt burning plastic about 5am on Saturday.
Panicking, she tried to turn on the lights of their Schwarz Road home but the power cut out as thick smoke began to fill the room.
They eventually managed to open a window before jumping out in their pyjamas, narrowly avoiding tragedy.
Ms Fabos choked back emotion yesterday afternoon when she described how close they came to not making it out.
“We didn’t realise how lucky we were until we saw the roof, it was glowing orange right above where we were sleeping,” she said.
“Then, within five minutes, the whole thing went up in flames.”
The sounds of the burning house were soon drowned out by the wailing of fire engine sirens as CFA crews arrived on scene.
Firefighters took Ms Fabos, Mr Singh and Gabriel into one of their trucks and gave them warm clothes.
Pictures of the scene showed huge flames billowing into the air as the single storey weatherboard home was engulfed by fire before crews brought the blaze under control.
Within 30 minutes, the young family had lost everything.
But the Ballarat community has thrown its support behind the trio, with Ms Fabos and Mr Singh making a heartfelt thanks to everybody for their generosity.
“We lost everything, but there’s so much support in the community here in Ballarat, it’s unbelievable,” Mr Singh said.
“Thank you so much everyone for supporting us, we’re overwhelmed.”
After the fire, Ballarat City Council's emergency management team contacted the Department of Health and Human Services, which provided financial assistance for Ms Fabos, Mr Singh and Gabriel to buy clothes.
“Even people we don’t know have been dropping off stuff to assist us,” Ms Fabos said.
“I’m really blown away, especially in this day and age.”
For now, the family is staying with Ms Fabos’ parents nearby in Sulky as they begin to search for a rental property.
A CFA spokesman said on Tuesday fire investigators were yet to determine the cause of the blaze but that it was not being treated as suspicious.
To help out Ms Fabos, Mr Singh and Gabriel, head to gofundme.com/raj-anita-and-gabriel