Mackay mum Kate Ludkin recalls home fire nightmare

A traumatised Qld mum of five who survived floods and domestic violence only to lose everything in a house fire this week says she’s “hanging by a thread” but thanking God everyone is alive.

Mackay mother Kate Ludkin and her five daughters have lost everything they owned after a devastating fire tore razed their Napier St home on Wednesday, November 6, 2024. Picture: Heidi Petith

Amid the burnt rubble, now a gravesite for their beloved teddy bears, Alkira, Ciara and Tennessee excitedly spot unscathed handlebars on a toy scooter.

They are standing next to their mum Kate Ludkin who has acquiesced to her daughter’s pleading to see in daylight hours what remains of their home.

The lingering smell of destruction still wafting from the ruins only strengthens the anguish Ms Ludkin is battling as nightmares and vivid flashbacks of the trauma three days prior threaten to overwhelm her.

On Wednesday, a fire took less than an hour to raze a four-bedroom Mackay house to the ground, taking with it almost every worldly possession the family owned.

Mackay mother Kate Ludkin tries to put on a brave face for her daughters as they look at the ruined remains of their family home. Picture: Heidi Petith

This included three hard drives storing irreplaceable newborn photos of Ms Ludkin’s five daughters: Aliyaha, 16, Brydie, 13, Alkira, 11, Ciara, 7, and Tennessee, 5.

“I’m just glad me and my kids are alive,” she said.

“That’s all I can thank God for, and that it (the fire) happened in the daytime (while the girls were at school).”

Ms Ludkin said she was taking a break from cleaning for an inspection when smoke alarms began sounding in her Napier St rental about 2pm, despite a room-to-room search failing to uncover the smell or sight of smoke.

Mackay mother Kate Ludkin and her five daughters (pictured with Alkira, 11, and Ciara, 7) have lost everything they owned after a devastating fire tore razed their Napier St home on Wednesday, November 6, 2024. Picture: Heidi Petith

She said the real estate then advised she try reset one of the alarms which was when she felt “something keeping her at one end of the house”.

“The next minute, I don’t know how to explain it … my daughter Aliyaha, her room had opened and shut.

“It was just so weird, it could have been wind, literally anything but I didn’t see anyone enter the house.”

Ms Ludkin then “nervous(ly)” opened Aliyaha’s bedroom door to find the light and fan switch was on fire.

“Next minute, it just went all up the wall, on the roof,” she said.

The blaze begin in Aliyaha’s bedroom (pictured on far right) before quickly spreading to the rest of the home. Picture: Heidi Petith

Ms Ludkin said two guardian angels had watched over her that afternoon, one she believed to be her late uncle, as “all of a sudden” she was propelled to unfreeze herself from the hallway and “get up, get out and get out to safety”.

Minutes later, the house was fully engulfed as neighbours wrestled with garden hoses to fight the fire from the street.

Kate Ludkin’s home in South Mackay was completely destroyed by fire but she says she is grateful none of her five daughters were home at the time. She recalled seeing the Christmas tree go ‘whoosh’ and disappear within five seconds of catching on fire. Picture: Heidi Petith

Meanwhile, Ms Ludkin desperately tried to contact her children while receiving call after call from people phoning to let her know the home was ablaze.

She described the torment as she stood helplessly outside and prayed for the destruction to end, watching as flames spilt from the windows and licked towards her car.

“It was just as if I could see another bad thing happening … I could see the car exploding onto firefighters,” she said.

Only after emergency services promised to protect her vehicle – the lifeline to keeping her job and a household afloat – did she finally agree to go to hospital where staff remarked with wonder how she escaped with not one burnt hair on her body.

“Honestly, I felt a presence was with me (in the house) and it was just the weirdest, unexplained feeling,” Ms Ludkin said.

Mackay mother Kate Ludkin and her five daughters have lost everything they owned after a devastating fire tore razed their Napier St home on Wednesday, November 6, 2024. Ms Ludkin is pictured with (from left): Ciara, 7, Tennessee, 5, and Alkira, 11. Picture: Heidi Petith

The Mackay region community has since rallied around the young person's support worker and her children who are piecing together items for their new rental, with the help of a GoFundMe page and donations.

Ms Ludkin said the sight, smell and sounds of their home going up in flames were plaguing her waking moments but she was trying to stay strong for her girls.

“I’ve dealt with floods and (domestic violence) and all sorts of traumatising things but this one’s a first for me,” she said.

“I’m hanging by a thread at the moment trying to be okay.

“I’m trying to be a mum because I feel like if I get into a depression, it’s going to downhill and it’s going to go downhill fast.

“So, I try and think positively; in the midst of every storm, no matter how hard it is or how hard it gets, I’m going to make it.”