Warring St, Ravenswood fire: Louise McIntosh loses home seven months after death of husband David

Seven months after losing her husband in a tragic highway accident, a Tasmanian mum-of-five has now lost her home. Her heroic son managed to save dog Ruby and his dad’s ashes.

A Tasmanian cleaner who lost her husband in a tragic highway accident seven months ago has lost her home too, after it was consumed by fire on Sunday evening.

“It’s my nightmare and it’s only getting worse,” said Louise McIntosh, a Launceston College cleaner and mother-of-five who buried her beloved husband, David, last November after the truck he was driving rolled on Semmens Rd, St Marys.

The pair had been married for 29 years.

David and Louise McIntosh.

Ms McIntosh was in Mildura to bring daughter Camille and three grandchildren home to live with her at the Warring St, Ravenswood address where two of her other adult children, Brendan and Anthony, live also when she began receiving a flurry of phone calls after 6pm Sunday.

She was feeding her grandson, so didn’t initially answer, but soon the volume of calls became impossible to ignore.

“It was very overwhelming, me and Camille were sitting here not having a clue what was going on,” Ms McIntosh said.

The McIntosh family home at Warring St, Ravenswood, was consumed by fire at about 6pm on Sunday, June 18, 2023. Picture: Supplied

Ms McIntosh said that, aside from her children and grandchildren, the “two most precious things in my life” are her dog Ruby and David’s ashes – thanks to the heroic actions of Brendan, both were saved.

“He basically went in, the front door had jarred because of the heat, the front of house all full of smoke,” she said.

“He banged through the back door or front door, found Ruby asleep in the loungeroom on the couch, and grabbed his dad’s ashes.”

“A couple of his mates saw the blaze and came over, they had garden hoses until the fireys got there.”

Ms McIntosh said Brendan had been plagued with self-doubt in the wake of the tragic fire, but she was having none of it.

The McIntosh family home at Warring St, Ravenswood, was consumed by fire at about 6pm on Sunday, June 18, 2023. Picture: Supplied

“He said, ‘Mum, I didn’t go enough,’ and I said, ‘No, you did’. He’s a hero,” Ms McIntosh said.

She is determined to rebuild her life so that she can continue to be a pillar of strength for her children who are still “grieving” the twin loss of their fathers – Brendan and Camille’s father died unexpectedly just six days before David, the father of her youngest three.

“It’s not going to beat me. No way is it going to beat me. Because I’ll rebuild. My kids and my grandkids will have a home. I have to be strong. I have kids and grandkids to think of. And they’re first,” she said.

An online fundraiser created to support Ms McIntosh by friends Karen Tootell has raised $1550 at the time of writing.

“They have lost everything: clothes, toys, beds, bedding,” Ms Tootell said.

“This family has been through so much, and everyone that knows this beautiful family know they are always first to help anyone.”

A Tasmania Police spokeswoman said emergency services responded to calls for assistance at about 6pm. She confirmed that the house was unoccupied at the time the fire started.

“At this stage, the cause of the fire is undetermined. Substantial damage was caused to the property,” she said.