“AT least we have each other,” Deborah Robinson said as she held her son Callum and gazed at the rubble that was once a beautiful two storey cedar timber home.
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Comforted by her husband Ross and daughter Isabella, the four family members sat upon the brick footings of the wreckage, behind them twisted roofing iron and ashes, the remnants of all their worldly possessions.
The Tiyces Lane family was devastated on Thursday evening when their house caught alight.
Ross and Deborah had decided not to cook dinner, instead opting for a trip into town for takeaway.
The family drove into town picked up their meal just after 7pm and returned home.
They opened the door to their garage and were about to drive in when Ross heard the fire alarms inside the house going off.
“He told me not to get out of the car and reversed it away from the shed,” Deborah recalled.
“There was no sign of fire but when I ran around the other side of the house I could see dark brownie coloured smoke coming out from the floor.
“We were up toward the gate calling the fire brigade and looked back to see the whole thing burst into flames. I remember the noise, it was frightening.”
Deborah said they were very aware of fire, living out in a rural area and even had a sprinkler system around the house in case of a bushfire.
They had bought the home about four and a half years ago choosing it over a Queenslander style home that was a fair bit larger.
Peter Dyce, community education officer at the Tablelands Rural Fire Service said they received the 000 call at 7.37pm and at that time the house was reported to be well alight.
By the time the first unit arrived at 8.04pm all the crews could do was attempt to save the out buildings.
Deborah has two older children, Maddison, 16, and Lachlan, 15, who were down the coast at the time and she had intended driving down to see them because of the fire down there.
“It was a beautiful home, with polished blue gum timber floors, white wood walls and the outside walls was western red cedar,” she said.
“Everything was wood and it was really beautiful workmanship… It’s like losing dad all over again.”
Her father who had been living in the home with them had passed away after a fight with cancer just seven weeks ago and she was still getting over his loss.
Deborah said she was grateful to the fire brigade personnel who had comforted her during the heat of the fire. She had suffered a seizure and was treated by fire fighters and ambulance personnel before being taken to hospital as a precaution.
In all, 11 Rural Fire Service units attended the fire along with a Fire and Rescue NSW crew from Goulburn, the ambulance service and police.
On Friday, Police and Rural Fire Service investigators sifted through the rubble for clues to the cause of the fire.
Tim Street from the Rural Fire Service said he was unable to determine the cause of the fire but said they were lucky the children were not in the house when the fire took hold.
Quick thinking by Deborah and Ross had got the kids out of harm’s way just minutes or seconds before the home erupted in flames.
They were able to move another couple of vehicles as well as farm fuel supplies away from the danger area giving firefighters a better chance of limiting the damage other buildings.
The Robinsons were hoping their home insurance was up to date however they had not had time on Friday to contact their insurance company.
