JUNE 6, 2017 \ STARWEEKLY.COM.AU
NEWS + SPORT + PROPERTY GUIDE Junior Triple Zero Heroes Georgia and Ebony with their dad Denis. (Shawn Smits)
Dad hails hero daughters By Esther Lauaki Denis Smith’s two daughters are now officially his life-saving heroes. Georgia and Ebony were just nine and 11 when their dad’s clothes caught alight while he stoked a fire one chilly evening in January, 2015. The two Melton girls were among 51 young Victorians aged between five and 16 honoured at the 13th annual Junior Triple Zero Hero Awards last week. The annual awards recognise children for their heroic and life-saving actions.
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It was Ebony who phoned triple-0 while her sister dealt with a small fire that was still burning inside the house. The girls then fished their father from the pool and administered first aid with the emergency operator on the line. Mr Smith suffered severe burns to his arms, legs and his chest and was in hospital for more than a month. He praised his daughters for their heroic instincts. “You don’t know that they’ve got it in them until you’re in an emergency situation,” he said. “They surprised me and I’m so proud of them – as any father would be.”
Mr Smith recalled the day his daughters saved his life. “We were playing Monopoly, the girls were cold and they wanted a fire,” he said. “I’d run out of firewood so I tried to take a shortcut and put a small amount of petrol on it – not my brightest moment.” The flames from the fire caught the petrol can in Mr Smith’s hand and within moments his body was engulfed in flames, he said. “I was trying to roll around to put it out but each time the flames went out they would flare up again,” Mr Smith said. “I ran out and jumped in the pool and the girls were screaming.”
Western Victoria MP Jaala Pulford said the awards’ stories of bravery were a perfect reminder to all Victorians about the importance of teaching children how to identify, confidently react to and report emergencies by calling triple-0. “Georgia and Ebony Smith from Melton are both true heroes,” she said. “They kept calm under pressure and sought help when it was desperately needed.” In 2015-16, the Emergency Services Telecommunications Authority answered about 2.5 million calls for assistance from across Victoria.
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