‘Nowhere to go’: Christmas fire leaves family homeless

A Logan couple and their two kids visiting family for Christmas had only just arrived when they received a dreaded phone call from a neighbour saying their home had been destroyed.

A Logan family who lost their livelihoods in a house fire on Christmas Eve had not even sat down for their family lunch when they received the call to say their house was up in flames.

Shontae Voss and Zac Huybens were visiting family in Brisbane on Friday when a neighbour called them only ten minutes after they arrived.

Emergency services were called to the couple’s house on Seidler St, Logan Reserve just after midday on Friday where the blaze had begun in the garage.

Zac Huybens and Shontae Voss lost their items in a house fire on Christmas Eve. Photo: Supplied

“We’ve got two little boys and we just thought what do we do because we’re so far away,” Ms Voss said.

“My partner headed home and I stayed with the boys and he raced home with our cousin and then I wasn’t far behind.”

When they arrived, the couple found all Mr Huyben’s work tools which he used for the family’s primary income as a landscaper and handyman, his motorbike and everything in their garage destroyed, alongside their children Silas, 5, and two-year-old Ezra’s baby items gone.

The blaze spread through the house and destroyed items including several of the boy’s toys.

The house went up in flames on Christmas Eve.

Ms Voss said the young family was lucky to have had their Christmas presents with them in the car as they had planned to stay in a hotel on Christmas Day.

“We were lucky that all our kids’ presents were in the boot.”

With the damage making the house unlivable, she said the family had “nowhere to go back to” after the blaze.

A fundraiser created by relative Kacey Inu has raised more than $6,000 since the incident.

The money would go towards replacing the items destroyed in the blaze, particularly Mr Huyben’s tools.

“We want to get my partner’s business up and running again, he has thousands worth of tools that he’s collected over the years and now they’re all gone.”