A Merrigum family have lost all their personal belongings after their café and home went up in flames on July 16.
Merrigum Café and Convenience Store, and the house at the back of the store, went up in flames last Saturday following an electrical fault, leaving Rhonda and Bill Davis and their grandson Xavier without any of their belongings.
The Davis’s daughter Jackarna said they had been left with nothing.
“They’ve lost everything, they walked out with the clothes on their backs, and they’re looking after their grandson who’s three years old and he’s lost everything as well,” she said.
Miss Davis said it could have been worse, too. By chance, one of her mum’s friends — a firefighter — was visiting, and leapt into action when they smelled smoke.
“One of her friends in the shop having a coffee was a firefighter, he ran into the back and got their grandson and my dad, then went round the side and disconnected the gas cylinders, and that was all they could do,” she said.
“If it weren’t for Mum’s friend, god knows how it might have gone.
“I don’t know how to say it. They’ve lost everything. It’s the family business, I worked there when I was a kid.”
Her father was taken to hospital with minor smoke inhalation, while her mum had singed eyebrows.
Miss Davis said the fire began in a power point in her parents’ bedroom, with the property well and truly alight by 9.30am.
Miss Davis said emergency services, who were on the scene in minutes, were “incredible“.
With no insurance payout coming for the café, the couple need to figure out their next moves, all while trying to replace decades worth of stuff lost to the blaze.
While Miss Davis has been able to enter the property alongside firefighters, her parents haven’t been able to go back in.
They have salvaged a few things from the café — a fridge and some shelves — but the whole property is likely to need to be knocked down.
Miss Davis said while the community had offered support to her family, they still needed plenty of help.
They have been posting updates on the Merrigum Café and Convenience Store Facebook page, while Miss Davis also set up a GoFundMe to help her parents and nephew get back on their feet.
The GoFundMe can be found at https://www.gofundme.com/f/family-buisness-gone-to-fire