Neighbours aid homeowner during destructive Beauty Point fire

Mr Varga was on a day off work and painting his fence at Beauty Point when the incident unfolded.

He said he happened to look out toward the road, and all of a sudden saw flames.

"I thought, 'geez, the house is on fire'," he said.

Mr Varga said he ran out to the road and saw another neighbour who was on the phone. He asked where the homeowner, Ron Spiteri, was and she said he was around the back of his house.

"I raced around the back, got to the porch area, and black smoke was just pouring out," he said. "I could just see him. I dragged him out of it, he was dazed and coughing and spluttering."

"I said, 'c'mon mate, we've gotta get out of here'.

"He said, 'oh, my house is on fire, my house is on fire!'

"I said, 'don't worry about your house mate. Let's get out of here'."

Mr Varga said he didn't think Mr Spiteri would have gotten out alone.

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"That smoke was thick and black - I can still feel the effect now," he said.

"If I had have been a little bit later, I think there could have been a fatality.

"He's lost his house, but he's still got his life."

Mr Spiteri was chopping wood in his backyard when he first noticed smoke drifting toward his neighbour's house and realised his home was on fire.

"I raced out and tried to get in the house, but the smoke drove me back," he said.

"A bloke raced over from next door and told me the fire brigade had come."

Mr Spiteri said he was uninjured.

"I'm okay. The ambulance came and checked me out, but I'm alright," he said.

Tasmania Fire Service were alerted to the fire on Scott Street about 10.15am on Thursday.

Three fire crews worked to battle the blaze, but by noon they believed the building was gutted and would likely collapse and an excavator could be needed.

Firefighters kept the building soaked with water, as the house contained asbestos.

The fire was deemed not suspicious by police.

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