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 on Saturday.
When they arrived, two firefighters wearing breathing apparatus discovered an unattended cooking pot left on the stove had caused the fire, SSO Douglas said.
The son of the occupants had been in bed and was woken by a passer-by 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 and the unidentifiable would-be meal inside it.
However, the house was about 80% smoke damaged.
People should also be careful to not leave cooking unattended, SSO Douglas said.
