12:00a.m. 20th November 2008

| By Amy Remeikis

A fire broke out in a unit at Mooloolaba on Meta Street. All that was visible to the street below was the blackened windows, but investigators said the 9-year-old inhabitant was lucky to survive. Photo: Cade Mooney/179514

From the outside, the only indication of a fire was two blackened window frames on the top floor.

However, investigators inside the Mata Street townhouse in Mooloolaba know just how lucky the nine-year-old occupant was to escape with his life.

What caused the fire is still being investigated.

Investigators know that a 39-year-old woman and her young son were asleep on Tuesday night, when the woman was woken by a smoke detector just before midnight.

The smell of smoke and the small hisses and explosions, which can only come from fire, were apparent in her son’s room and she rushed to his door but was unable to get through.

She made her way into the burning room through an adjoining bathroom and wrapped her son, who was asleep on the floor, in a doona to protect him as she carried him from the house.

Neighbours comforted the woman and her son while firefighters quickly extinguished the fire before it reached adjoining units.

Yesterday, neighbours recounted their shock at awakening while fire investigators, police and an electrical safety officer worked to pinpoint the cause of the blaze.

Samples from the worst burnt areas have been sent away for testing to try and establish a cause.

The woman told investigators she had lit a candle earlier in the night and thrown the extinguished match into a waste paper basket in her son’s bedroom.

Maroochydore station officer and fire investigator Greg Scarlett said the fire appeared to have started in that part of the room, but there was also the possibility a night light was responsible.

“We can’t say for certain what caused it yet,” Mr Scarlett said.

“It may have been the waste paper basket but it may have been the night light.

“They have been known to cause fires and be quite dangerous.

“Some on the market haven’t been approved to Australian standards.

“The approval number should be on the packaging and the product itself. People should check and be aware.”