When Elia Norman’s second-floor apartment in Sydney caught fire after fire spread from a neighbouring apartment, she quickly grabbed her asthmatic son, car keys and ran downstairs to safety.
The former information systems professional watched as the flames charred his family’s prized possessions.
The late-night emergency in Sydney last month occurred after her neighbour’s faulty mobile phone charger blew up a socket, causing a small fire that eventually burned down the entire eight-unit block.
Originally from the port city of Latakia, the Normands left war-torn Syria in 2018 to join the rest of their family in Australia.
The country was plunged into a civil war that killed more than 500,000 people after a 2011 revolution turned violent, with several terrorist groups emerging on the scene, including Islamic State, as leader Bashar al-Assad struggled to remain in power.
“Economic conditions have been dire since 2011, and now they are even worse: airstrikes from rural outskirts were falling on the city and it was not safe at all,” Norman said.
“It’s scary. You leave home not knowing if you’re going to come back alive or not,” said the father of two children.
Mr Norman and his wife, Noor, said the fire alarms in the two-bedroom unit in the western suburbs had recently been changed but did not sound when smoke began to rise.
The couple’s rental unit caught fire after a neighbour’s faulty mobile phone charger blew up a socket, causing the entire block of eight apartments to go up in flames (pictured)
Noor (left) and Elia Norman (right) were left homeless a month after the fire. The couple had moved to Australia from Syria to start a new life.
It was the end of a grueling few years since moving to Australia, but she remains optimistic and strong in her Christian faith.
‘We escaped with our clothes on and thank God, I don’t know why, but I was lucky to grab the car keys, so at least we can get around.’
He worked as a cleaner at fast food giant McDonald’s, where he suffered significant leg injuries and underwent surgery, but remains disabled and can walk with a crutch.
Workers’ compensation has been a long and complicated process as he tries to make ends meet on a meager income from welfare payments.
The Norman family have been staying in temporary motel accommodation, provided by Housing NSW, for a number of weeks.
One in line fundraising campaign To help the family rebuild their lives, the local church has set up a fund and the children’s school has contributed uniforms and clothing.
Researchers at Western Sydney University estimate there are around 18,000 residential fires across the country, with more than 6,500 in New South Wales alone.
Maiy Azize, a spokeswoman for Everybody’s Home, a national campaign to end Australia’s housing crisis, said tragic cases like the Normans’ were more common in an increasingly tight rental market, where vacancies in New South Wales hover around 1.5 percent.
The couple (pictured) and their asthmatic son escaped the blaze with only the clothes on their backs. The local church has launched an online fundraising campaign to help the family rebuild their lives.
“Refugees have fewer options in the rental market because fewer people want to take them in, especially if they have no income… so they are much more likely to accept whatever conditions are given to them,” she said.
He explained the lack of a national code for tenants and an independent monitoring body as reasons behind the situation.
“There are no good minimum rental standards in virtually any part of the country,” Azize said.
“When you compare housing to almost any other essential service you can think of, like water and electricity or even a workplace… there’s an independent authority in every state, but there’s nothing like that for housing.”