A mother trapped with her two young sons in their South Lismore, NSW, home messaged a family friend in New Zealand to try and get help.
The trio were seeking refuge from rising floodwaters on Monday morning when they realised it was too dangerous to get on their slippery roof to wait for help.
With no mobile signal, the woman messaged a family friend in New Zealand via the internet, as she considered sheltering in the roof cavity of her home with her boys.
The friend then messaged Sydney’s Narellan fire station Facebook page: "SOS in Edward St LIMORE NSW PLEASE! Small child in house TRAPPED GET HELP OUT THERE NOW PLEASE [sic]."
READ MORE: Hundreds left stranded on rooftops in 'unprecedented' NSW floods
An off-duty FRNSW firefighter happened to see the man’s message and called 000, providing the trapped family’s details.
A former admin of the page, she was returning from holiday with her family at the time.
In the meantime, another friend managed to reach the trapped trio and guide them to safety.
The man in New Zealand received news of the rescue and sent a follow-up message to the Facebook page: "Daughter just made contact ... they got them out ... Thank you so much, guys/girls ... God bless you."
FRNSW Acting Superintendent Mathew Sigmund said while there was a fortunate outcome to this incident it is crucial the public realises Fire and Rescue NSW Facebook pages are not routinely monitored and should not be relied upon as an alternative to 000.
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