Showground Samaritans sleep while their home is robbed

Two children volunteered to assist Gracemere evacuees and their pets

Bec Torr's family home was burgled just hours after they returned from assisting fire evacuees at Rockhampton Showgrounds. Picture: Jann Houley

SOMETIMES, sadly, bad things do happen to good people.

Bec Torr's family home was robbed just hours after she returned from helping Gracemere fire evacuees at Rockhampton Showgrounds on Wednesday .

Mrs Torr's husband was called in to work at Coles Express on Fitzroy to relieve a colleague who volunteered at the evacuation centre.

"I was explaining to my kids how the fire came too close to some people's houses and they had to come stay in town the night," Ms Torr said.

"My two older kids said they wanted to help but they weren't sure how."

She took them down to the nearby showgrounds pavilion where thousands of locals had gathered following an evacuation order hours earlier.

"One of the police officers at the front desk said we could help handing out bottles of water."

Mrs Torr and her two eldest children, aged 6 and 8, spent hours looking after strangers and topping up drink bowls for their many pets.

They went home to sleep after 10pm and three hours later Mrs Torr heard the family dog barking from under the house.

When they woke the next morning they discovered an adult pushbike had been stolen from under the house.

"It was unlocked because you have to go all the way under the house and around a screen to get there," Mrs Torr said.

"My landlord said there hasn't been any trouble here for twenty years."

Rockhampton and Gracemere social media pages are struggling to keep up with the flood of gratitude toward everyone who offered assistance, donations and their time.

Local shops donated toys, food and pet supplies while accommodation centres opened their doors to the out-of-towners who fled the fast approaching flames.

Cafes and other local businesses are offering free food, coffee, even massages to exhausted and hungry emergency service workers.

But in an ironic twist, one family of good Samaritans are now facing Christmas without a set of wheels.

Originally published as Showground Samaritans sleep while their home is robbed