Thirty seconds later, and it would have been too late.
The taste of burning plastic and smoke was still in the back of Michael Brough's throat on Friday night as the adrenaline crash hit and he took stock of the day. Earlier that morning, he had been on a ride with his wife when, on the return home, they found smoke billowing from their neighbour's property.
Mr Brough didn't think but rushed headlong into the burning building and called for anyone inside. He ran down the hallway in head-high smoke and found a woman distressed. In the bedroom, the bed was fully alight. He asked if anyone else was inside as he rushed to the other room, where he found the woman's disabled mother and a carer trying to help her flee.
"The smoke was so thick at that stage," he said. "It was chest-high. I said I was going to lift her up, and I was taking her out ... she looked absolutely petrified."
Firefighters and paramedics converged on the scene on Greta Street at Aberdare just after 9am as the house was engulfed in flame and smoke. Paramedics treated four people at the scene, most for smoke inhalation. One of the women had suffered minor burns.
The property could not be saved.
Around 30 firefighters attacked the blaze for over an hour as it spread into the roof, causing it to collapse.
As the stress and danger of the situation hit him on Friday evening, November 15, Mr Brough reflected.
"You just remember: Get down low and go, go, go," he said. "If it was just another minute - 30 seconds ... if I hadn't sprinted up that road. If I had dilly-dallied. It was just at the right moment.
"Make sure you check your smoke alarms."
On social media after the incident, Mr Brough praised the firefighters and emergency responders as heroes and told the Newcastle Herald that anyone would have done the same in his position.
Crews gained control of the fire by 10.30am, including several gas cylinders that were venting and burning at the scene. Investigators were looking into the cause of the fire on Friday.
