Frantic bid to rescue burned couple after blaze rips through Homebush unit The blaze takes hold in the top-floor apartment. Photo: Kyle Parker Source: Supplied NEIGHBOURS tried to form a bridge between two units to reach a couple severely burned in a huge blaze inside their top-floor home today. The fire broke out at 6.40am and the couple were trapped on their balcony screaming for help from fellow residents until firefighters arrived. A 34-year-old man, Vishal, suffered 25 per cent burns to his torso, chest and shoulders, while his wife, 27, suffered 20 per cent burns to her legs and shoulders and smoke inhalation, NSW Ambulance said. They were both taken to Royal Prince Alfred Hospital after 7am in a serious but stable condition just after 7am. Neighbour Joost said he tried to break down the front door to help the couple but was unable to. Neighbours adjoining the Homebush unit laid a ladder from their balcony to the couple's to act as a bridge for them to escape but they waited for firefighters to rescue them. Shanthi Rodrigo, 75, has lived in the Beresford Road unit complex for 15 years and said the Indian couple had only recently got married. I was sleeping at the time when I heard this commotion, people screaming for help. I heard a man's and a woman's voice. I opened the window and found that it came from unit 8 and this guy was on the balcony," he said. I live down below in unit 5 and saw this couple standing on the balcony. He was screaming for help and asking people to come and break down the door. there were 10 or 15 people on the lawn. The girl was not burned but she was distraught. Rayed Kamal lives with his brother Lutful in unit 4 a few doors away on the top floor which was one of three affected by the fire after the roof collapsed in on it. Vishal was screaming and saying 'can someone please come and break the door', he kept saying the same sentence over and over again. People were trying to get them down but they refused until the firefighters got them down with the ladder," he said. The fire spread through very quickly. Fire and Rescue NSW Inspector Mick Wren said the two-bedroom unit was gutted by the fire, while two adjoining units had fire and water damage, after the blaze got into the roof space resulting in parts of the roof collapsing in on them. "Once it gets in the ceiling it can spread to the whole block," he said. He said it was good the couple didn't use the make-shit ladder bridge offered to them because it would have been "quite precarious." More than 30 people were evacuated and eight families in the affected block aren't able to return with power shut off and the structural integrity being investigated. Insp Wren said firefighters were on the scene quickly and faced a "chaotic" scene. He said their good work stopped the fire damaging more units.