The men, who only wanted to be identified as Danny, 47 and Ben, 34, were driving down Cameron Road at about 12.20pm on Sunday, June 15.

They noticed an unusual amount of smoke coming from a house and heard a smoke alarm going off.

"Most people stop, look and keep driving," Ben said. "We saw a couple cars in front of us do that but we had to stop."

After assessing the situation, the men broke into the house to check for any people or pets.

"We just made a quick call. I thought 'we better check whether someone's in there', there were no flames coming out yet," Danny said.

"I put the boot into the door. It took two good swift kicks and we were in. I went down one end, Ben went down the other.

"We were calling out, rustling beds. There was a lot of smoke but we just checked the rooms for people and bailed out. "

The 49-year-old owner of the house was not at home at the time of the fire.

Queanbeyan firefighters believe the blaze began in the kitchen and was caused by food left on the stove unattended. They estimated about $20,000 worth of damage to the kitchen.

Queanbeyan Police sergeant Nick Hallett praised the men for their quick thinking.

"It is refreshing to see people go out of their way to help others," sergeant Hallett said.

"Both men are to be congratulated for their actions that have saved the house from total destruction".

However, the men said they weren't heroes; they just saw the commotion and knew they had to do something about it.

"We drove off and sort of thought, 'well that was our deed for the day, our contribution to society'," Danny said.

"We're not heroes but obviously had we carted out some poor lady or children well then, there you go.

"Not too many people do it these days, stop and actually help."

The incident is timely reminder for residents to check their smoke alarms and test them to make sure they work.

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