An elderly woman on the NSW Mid North Coast has died in an early morning house fire, becoming the thirteenth fatality of residential fires this winter.
The body of an 83-year-old woman was recovered from a home on Old Coast Road at Korora, north of Coffs Harbour, on Tuesday morning.
Emergency crews responded to reports of a fire in a living room shortly after 6:30am.
A man in his 60s was also treated for smoke inhalation.
Fire and Rescue Mid North Coast duty commander Tony Lanthell said the tragedy was the latest addition to "staggering" winter statistics.
"It's incredibly tragic for the family, friends and for the emergency service workers that attend these incidents," Inspector Lanthell said.
The toll has climbed significantly since last winter, when four people died in house fires.
A common misconception
Fire authorities are also concerned that a lack of working smoke alarms was contributing to the danger.
There have been 668 residential fires in NSW this winter, of which 45 per cent attended by firefighters either did not have smoke alarms or had alarms that did not work.
"A working smoke alarm is the only way you will survive a house fire," Inspector Lanthell said.
"There's this misconception out there that people will wake up from the smell of smoke and nothing can be further from the truth."
"A photo-electric smoke alarm is needed, they're the newer model and will pick up smoke a lot earlier while cancelling out the false alarms that annoy people," he said.
"Once a fire occurs they are devastating, if life is lost it is even more devastating so it is vital were applying preventative measures where possible."
