Bellambi house fire: Woman, children flee from the flames

The fire quickly engulfed a bedroom of the single-storey fibro home on Chounding Crescent, with thick, black smoke pouring through the rest of the housing commission property.

Firefighters feared the worst when they received an emergency triple-0 call at 12.22pm.

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"Our initial reports were someone was trapped or stuck in the house, but it turned out that wasn't right which was good," Fire and Rescue NSW Duty Commander Greg Purvis said.

A woman aged in her 30s suffered smoke inhalation and was treated at the scene by paramedics.

"The mother got smoke inhalation trying to put it [the fire] out," Duty Commander Purvis said.

Two young boys, aged around three and five years old, were not injured during the emergency.

Firefighters from across the Illawarra were called and Duty Commander Purvis praised them for their quick response.

"The bedroom is pretty well destroyed and there's a bit of smoke damage to the rest of the house," he said.

"The guys did really well to contain it to one room."

The cause of the fire is under investigation, but has been determined as not suspicious.

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Duty Commander Purvis said the home's smoke alarm helped alert the mother to the blaze.

"Last year there were 895 residential fires [in NSW] and 45 per cent of those homes didn't have a working smoke alarm," he said.

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