A TARRINGTON family who wished to find - and personally thank - the stranger who stopped to alert them that their house was on fire at 6am one morning 2 weeks ago, have since been able to express their appreciation to the man identified as Andy Craig of Hamilton.

A Facebook post on The Spectator story prompted comments from locals who quickly identified the hero.

Mr Craig and his family had been driving through Tarrington on their way to the Great Ocean Road to show his partner Helen Brown and her children the local sights, when his daughter Holly, 16, noticed flames at the back of the Tarrington house.

“My daughter Holly pointed out the fire,” he said.

“(We) didn’t expect a fire on the way.

“It was a bit of a team effort as I hadn’t realised.

“Honestly wouldn’t have stopped had it not been for Holly.

“I went to the house whilst my partner called 000.

“I was banging at (Mr Enderby’s) door for a few minutes then we managed to put out the flames just before the fire service arrived.”

Wes Enderby and his wife Loretta and her sister had been sound asleep, however, Mrs Enderby awoke to the banging quite alarmed and woke her husband to attend to the door.

Mr Enderby and Mr Craig quickly found hoses to douse the flames at the back of the house that had likely started from some ashen coals placed in the garden rubbish bin the night before.

Both Mrs Enderby and her sister are infirm and were asleep in in the house when the fire got underway.

It had started to spread up the verandah pole and completely burnt out one corner stump underneath the almost 100-year-old weatherboard home when Holly Craig noticed the flames.

When told of the circumstances of the occupants of the home, Mr Craig was relieved to find out that everyone was okay and that he and his family had potentially helped save their lives.

“We didn’t really have much time for chit chat, so I didn’t know if (Mr Enderby) was alone or not.”

It was only after the fire brigade had left that Mr and Mrs Enderby realised they hadn’t asked the name of the gentleman who had helped with the fire, however, once Mr Craig responded to the Facebook posts, numbers were exchanged, and Mr Craig said he would be happy to speak directly with the family.

“It would be nice to see how she is going,” Mr Craig said.

However, by the time Mrs Enderby made the phone call to say thank you in person, Mr Craig, Ms Brown and their children were at Tullamarine airport as they were all moving to the United Kingdom to settle permanently.

“We’re all moving back to Helen’s place in the UK,” he said.

“We (were) spending the last few weeks here to show (Ms Brown and her children) the sights.

“If (Mrs Enderby) would like to call…it would be nice.”

After speaking in person, Mrs Enderby said she was grateful she had the opportunity to express the gratitude of the Enderby family to Mr Craig and his family.

“Gosh, we hate to think what might have happened if they hadn’t seen the flames and let us know,” Mrs Enderby said.

“I don’t think we would have been able to get out in time.

“We are just so grateful that those angels were sent to wake us up and help put the flames out.

“And the angels in the fire truck.

“We haven’t stopped praising the Lord.”