12-year-old boy drives truck to flee Australian bushfire with dog

A 12-year-old Australian boy managed to escape a raging bushfire by driving away in his older brother's pick-up truck.

Lucas Sturrock had grabbed his dog and drove to safety after a fast-moving blaze threatened his farmhouse in north of Perth.

Emergency workers, who found the boy unharmed and parked on the side of a road, lauded his "driving skills".

"It is fantastic we found him and got him out of danger," an officer said. 

With the Help of DFES, Dalwallinu Officer S/C SMITH saved this 12 year old who was driving across paddocks to escape the fire 🔥 in Mogumber. He has been reunited with family and is safe and well #fb pic.twitter.com/zyrYCFgwSM

— Dalwallinu Police (@DalwallinuPol) December 15, 2019

His father, who had gone out to fight a fire at the time with his older son, said Luke had learnt to drive when he was seven. 

The fires have killed six people, destroyed more than 680 homes and burned nearly 3 million acres of land.