Children, parents, guests escape with their lives after fire rips through home on Gillet Drive in Kardinya

A “nightmare” garage explosion jolted a family of six plus two households of guests awake before a raging fire quickly took hold of a two-storey home.

Seven fire crews were deployed to the blaze on Gillet Drive in Kardinya at 6.23am on Wednesday, where four young children under the age of 10 and their parents were starting their morning.

Steven Redfern lives in the attached granny flat and ran to the front when he heard yelling inside the main house.

There were also guests staying in the property’s separate Airbnb.

Immediately, Mr Redfern realised the severity of the situation.

“The garage just exploded out,” he told The West, pointing to burnt pieces of timber — all that remained of the garage’s roof.

Along with the children’s father, Mr Redfern made an attempt to put out the fire, tossing a bucket of water onto the garage where several cars were parked.

“At the start, he 9the father) was just trying to put it out with the hose but it was already out of control,” Mr Redfern said.

“He was in the shower when it started and by the time he got out, it was just out of control.”

Mr Redfern made a run for it when he realised one of the cars could explode.

The young children, meanwhile, were frightened for their lives, he said.

“They were freaking out, they were screaming, ‘We’re all gonna die’,” Mr Redfern said.

“I just feel bad for them because it looks like a lot of damage.”

Two homes down Maryanne Chappelle was enjoying her morning coffee when she noticed a black plume of smoke.

She thought it was coming from inside her elderly neighbour’s home before realising it was the next house over.

“I stood on my chair and saw smoke billowing through the whole roof cavity,” Ms Chappelle told The West.

“So we just raced out because we knew it was a family with four kids and they were just starting to come out.

“Then fire started taking over bits of the house.”

With fire crews already on the way, Ms Chappelle turned her attention to getting the family to safety.

“We were making sure they were all OK and, of course, getting the couple out of the Airbnb as well.

“We had towels to wrap around the kids.”

Ms Chappelle brought the children and their mum into her home, with her partner Josh making coffees.

“We wanted to get everyone away because it was escalating and the brigade wasn’t there yet,” she said.

“So we wanted to move the kids and mum away.”

The father insisted on staying with the house and doing what he could to fight the flames.

“We were worried that the windows might blow out, so we all wanted him to get away from the house,” Ms Chappelle said.

“But he was doing what his instinct told him, to protect the house.”

Ms Chappelle was relieved that no one was hurt.

By 7.10am, the blaze was extinguished and crews continued to hose down the building.

The cause of the fire is under investigation.