‘It’s unreal how quickly everything went’: Weranga man loses everything in electrical fire

A Weranga man lost everything in a devastating fire and has spoken out about the toll it has taken. Find out more.

Garry Wode lost his home in a fire

The community have thrown their support behind a Weranga man who tragically lost his home in a fire last week.

Western Downs fire crews responded to the blaze at about 1.36pm Thursday afternoon finding the 6m by 12m shed which also served as a dwelling engulfed in flames.

Crews fought the blaze, but by the time it was extinguished Garry Wode was left him with nothing but the shoes on his feet, the shirt on his back and a couple of camp ovens salvaged from the wreckage.

Mr Wode said he had visited town for an hour returning to find his entire property and all his belonging a pile of smoking rubble.

“I went into Tara to get some supplies and fuel for my generator and when I came back I noticed some smoke coming from the end of the driveway,” he said.

“By the time I got up there I could see it was on fire, I rang the fireys, grabbed the pump out of garden shed and tried to put out what I could, but by the time the fireys turned up there wasn’t much left.

“It was an electrical fire and we are thinking it was caused by the heat.”

Mr Wode said the fire had been devastating.

“I’ve lost everything, the only thing I’ve been able to salvage were my camp ovens, I was down there yesterday trying to go through my stuff and that was all that was left,” he said

“I’ve lost my clothes, my Harley Davidson got burnt out and I’ve lost all my family photos and pictures of my grand kids.”

Mr Wode thanked the community for their support and said people had been reaching out offering donations.

“I’m holding up OK, I’ve had a couple of days to let it sink in, but it is unreal how quickly it all went,” he said.

“It feels good to see the support from the community, I’ve just been into town and got some clothes, the only shoes I had left were a pair of work boots that were sitting outside.

“Now I’m left with the job of clearing everything out, pulling down what’s left of the shed which was a brand new and trying to move all the iron away.

“At this point I really don’t know what I’m going to do.”

Mr Wode’s daughter has now launched a GoFundMe to ‘ raise funds to help him rebuild his home and belongings’ which has so far raised just under $2000.

She is also asking for any donations of clothes, sheets, towels, tools and building materials.

Donations can be made here.

Originally published as ‘It’s unreal how quickly everything went’: Weranga man loses everything in electrical fire