THEIR house burned to the ground while Tropical Cyclone Alfred dropped deluges of rain and formed cyclonic winds.
Unfortunately, it wasn’t serendipitous, the flames were not doused and the house was reduced to char.
The home belonged to Jasmine Marten’s mother, step father and sister.
They live in the rural locality of Mount Walker.
It was March 9 when Jasmine answered the panicked phone call from her mum to say the house was burning down.
“She phoned the emergency services first and by the time she calmed herself down enough to call me, the whole house was alight,” Jasmine said.
“I heard from a neighbour they rang the police 15 minutes before mum and my sister made it out of the house.
“They were in the front of the house so we think it may have started at the back.
“They only just made it out.
“My sister has special needs, she is autistic and developmentally delayed.
“She was the first one to notice the fire, she ran into the bedroom and told our mum.”
Jasmine’s mother and sister were in the main house and her step father was in a shed out back doing farm work.
“They wanted to try to put it out but there was no power so the pumps weren’t working,” she said.
“We think because it was electrical, they lost power once the fire started.
“My step father ran into the house to try save some of their property but the flames were too intense and he couldn’t breathe.”
When Jasmine arrived on scene the house was gone.
“When we got there [emergency services] were about to close all the roads because of the floods, the only way out was closed off after we left,” she said.
The home was large, there were two living rooms, five bedrooms, an office and two bathrooms.
Worse still, they weren’t insured.
“They lost all their white goods, wallets, car keys and identification,” she said.
“All of their clothes are gone too.
“Her mum passed away not long ago and she had all of her things, blankets, birth certificates, collectibles and photo albums.”
The family owned the house and the land it sits on, because everything was destroyed, they have nowhere to store donations while they get back on their feet.
“We are trying to find dongas and shipping containers so they have somewhere to sleep for a start, then somewhere to store what people are giving them,” she said.
“Their plan is to try and raise money to get some portable housing in place.
“We also need to get the electricity back on and water, because they still want to live out there.
“I am trying to find something they can live in while they rebuild, right now they’re living in a shed at the back that wasn’t fire affected.”
Jasmine has started a Go Fund Me fundraising account to get money in the family can use to get back on their feet.
