Senior Station Officer Pete Douglas, of St Kilda station, said two appliances responded to reports of a house fire in Tedder St, St Kilda, about 10.10am today.
When they arrived, two firefighters wearing breathing apparatus discovered unattended cooking on the stove had caused the fire, SSO Douglas said.
The young man had been in bed and was woken by a passerby knocking on his window.
While the house had working smoke alarms, the young man had not been roused by them.
He was ‘‘damn lucky’’ to have escaped, and did the right thing by getting straight out, SSO Douglas said.
The only fire damage was to the pot, but the house was about 80% smoke damaged, SSO Douglas said.
The incident served as a reminder to check to smoke alarms to make sure they were working.
People should also not leave cooking unattended, SSO Douglas said.
A witness said he saw smoke coming out the windows of the house.
