Neighbours have rallied around a devastated Stanwell Park family whose house was tragically gutted in a large fire in the early hours of Tuesday morning.
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A light-sleeping neighbour woke to hear the crackling of a blaze in a Sheridan Crescent home about 1am.
He banged on the door to wake the Morgan family, who were asleep and unaware their house was burning.
Meanwhile, another neighbour, who spoke to the Mercury, said he woke up to the sound of an explosion and saw the fire illuminating his bedroom window.
"I went outside and used a garden hose on the house, as did other people, until the fire brigades came," the neighbour, who wished not to be named, said.
"The fire was sweeping up the hill towards my house.
"The fire in the home started about 1am, by 1.30pm it was completely up in flames and by 2pm it was gone."
Insp Purvis said 40 firefighters arrived to find the home fully enveloped by fire, which had been fanned by heavy winds overnight.
He said the residence was a pole home, which made it more difficult to fight the blaze as winds were coming up on the underside of the house and fanning the flames. The brushwood fence was also ablaze.
Crews battled the fire for an hour before extinguishing it at 2.30am.
The neighbour said the firefighters did an extraordinary job to contain the blaze and he was personally grateful they stopped the fire spreading to his house.
"Nothing is salvageable in the home," he said. "Many of the neighbours were outside and were checking on the family and each other."
The neighbour said the distraught Morgan family, which includes a husband, wife and two daughters, were staying with relatives nearby.
He said the neighbours rallied together on Tuesday morning and went shopping or donated clothes and toiletries for the family.
"It all happened so quickly." he said. "It was an good effort by all who helped out. We do have good neighbours in the street".
A Paypal fundraising has been set up to provide ongoing support for the family as they rebuild their lives.
Investigators from Fire and Rescue NSW were on scene on Tuesday morning along with police forensics officers investigating the cause of the fire.
At this stage the fire is believed to be an accident and there are no suspicious circumstances.