Community rallies in support of family after fire tragedy

A Lockyer Valley family have been left with nothing just days before Christmas, after fire tore through their unique family home.

HEARBREAK: James and Escobar Sleeper and Jessica Salmon stand with the burnt wreckage of their former converted-bus 'Tiny Home' at Iredale. The community has rallied around the family, with donations flooding in. Picture: Dominic Elsome

WITH just days to go before Christmas, an Iredale family has been left with just the clothes on their backs after fire destroyed their unique home.

Jessica Salmon and James Sweeper, along with their young son Escobar, watched as the tiny home they had spent three-and-a-half years converting from a bus burnt to the ground in just 30 minutes earlier this month.

Ms Salmon said the family had been left reeling after the tragedy.

"It's hard, it tears you up inside,” she said.

"We put our heart, our soul, everything we earned into making our home.”

Shockingly, the family's woes weren't over - the trio were lucky to escape a serious crash just days later.

They were travelling on the Bruce Highway when they were involved in an accident with a truck that wrote off their car. Thankfully, though, no one was hurt.

The shocking series of events is not lost of Ms Salmon.

"We're either the luckiest people in the world or the unluckiest,” she said.

But out of tragedy some hope has emerged, with the local community rallying around the family.

The Withcott-Heldion Lions Club has assisted the family, and has also set up a GoFundMe account to raise funds for Mr Sweeper and Ms Salmon.

Thousands of dollars have been raised to help the struggling family, and Lions membership chairman Mark Lavender said the club had also made its own donations.

"What the club has tried to do, with our limited capacity, is to support people at a time of great need, people who had lost all their possessions,” Mr Lavender said.

"We looked to give them a little bit of hope with the little bit that we could give them.”

Ms Salmon said the support they had received had been overwhelming, and thanked everyone who had donated.

"They've alleviated so much stress, there's good in this world,” she said.

Donations are still being accepted and anyone wishing to donate can do so through the GoFundMe account on the Withcott-Heldion Lions Club's Facebook page or by contacting the club directly.