A family of four is trying to put their lives back together after a Christmas tree decoration set an entire house on fire, leaving the father and his two daughters just moments from making it out alive.
Father George was at home with the couple’s two daughters in the family’s two-story home in the eastern Melbourne suburb of Glen Waverley when the smoke alarm went off and he saw the Christmas tree was up. calls around 12.40 pm on Sunday.
George attempted to remove the tree from the house and put it out with a hose, but the fire spread too quickly, forcing him to flee the spreading inferno with his two daughters.
Roula, a wife and mother, who was working at the time, said she was grateful everyone made it out alive.
“My husband and children are safe,” she told Seven News on Monday.
‘Everything was very fast. Christmas is literally ruined.
Although the fire was considered under control at 2:05 p.m., a total of 38 firefighters and 12 trucks were needed to extinguish it.
The fire also caused small fires on neighboring properties and spread to the highway embankment behind the house.
This home in Melbourne’s east was destroyed by a rapidly spreading fire started by a Christmas tree decoration.
While a father and two daughters were able to safely flee the burning house, their family of four was left with almost nothing.
George was taken to hospital for treatment for burns to his legs and arms.
Family friend Maria Bulovic started a GoFundMe page for the devastated family, who, she said, had “lost everything and were left with only the clothes on their backs.”
“They had lived in their house for 24 years and it held memories to last a lifetime,” he wrote on the page.
“This is very devastating, not only so close to Christmas, but now trying to get their lives back to some kind of normality for the family and their children.”
He said any donations made to the page would help the family rebuild their shattered lives.
“Your donation will greatly help cover basic needs, clothing, Christmas gifts, food and anything else they may need at this very tragic time in their lives,” he wrote.
As of Wednesday afternoon, the GoFundMe had raised more than $20,000 of its $50,000 goal.
The destroyed house will have to be demolished.