Peter Fabrici's Bushfire Scuba Escape
In November 2011, as a massive bushfire tore through the Margaret River region of Western Australia, a 53-year-old man named Peter Fabrici decided to stay behind and defend his home after sending his wife to safety. He stuffed gutters with wet rags, soaked his clothes, rigged sprinklers on the roof, and dragged a homemade scuba setup on a trolley around the house so he could breathe in the choking smoke while spot fires and exploding debris closed in.
When the flames became too intense, he dove headfirst into his neighbor's covered swimming pool with the scuba tank, sank to the bottom, and stayed submerged for about five minutes watching red and black swirl overhead as the fire passed over him. When he finally surfaced, he found the houses around him gutted but his own home still standing, and he broke down in tears of relief that both he and the house had survived.