Perth family left homeless and ‘with nothing’ after fire destroys entire house

“I just thought that when you rented somewhere and you paid a bond, there would have been an insurance plan, but obviously not,” Christopher says of the devastating blaze.

Alexandra Feiam

2 min read

June 1, 2023 - 10:46AM

Family Life

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It was a typical Monday afternoon, and Christopher was spending quality time with his fiancee, Johana, and their twin boys.

But as their neighbours walked past the family's Scarborough property, they alerted Christopher that something was wrong.

Running back to the house, he saw thick, black smoke billowing from the back of the building.

In minutes, everything they had close to them was destroyed.

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The Perth family lost everything in the house fire. Source: GoFundMe

House fire left family-of-four “with nothing”

“I went out and the whole garage was already ablaze, so I knew I had to try and get everyone out safely,” the Perth father told Yahoo! News.

The fire began in the garage and quickly engulfed the entire home.

Luckily Christopher was able to keep his partner, 6yo twin boys and two dogs away from the blaze, but they sadly lost everything else in the process.

The family had recently moved into the rental property and didn’t have contents insurance, and the property wasn’t covered by the landlord, either.

“Most of the contents inside the house is gone and whatever was in the garage,” he explained. “Unfortunately, it's just left us with nothing.”

The family lost clothes, household goods, toys and sentimental items in the blaze.

Aside from their personal belongings, Christopher also lost his van, containing roughly $100,000 worth of tools and work equipment.

“As a self-employed floor layer, this has been detrimental to the family’s only source of income,” said Emma, a friend close to the family.

Landlord didn’t have insurance for rental property

The cause of the fire was deemed accidental, but the Department of Fire and Emergency Services of Western Australia couldn’t confirm a specific cause, as there were too many ignition points.

The blaze left the family homeless.

Because the landlord didn’t have a standard insurance policy to cover the family, they had to find temporary accommodation in their friend’s caravan.

“I just thought that when you rented somewhere and you paid a bond, there would have been an insurance plan, but obviously not,” Christopher told Yahoo! News.

The couple recently returned to Perth after a “series of previous set-backs” and to “rebuild their lives”.

Christopher’s family has set up a GoFundMe to help them get back on their feet and “reduce some of their stress”.

So far, it has raised $23,000, surpassing its $16,000 target.

"From our family to you, we would like to express our heartfelt thanks," the family shared on the GoFundMe page.