“The main thing is we’re all alive.” That’s the humbling impression of Stephen Lee when looking over the burnt out remains of the family home with his partner Hayley and sons Caleb and Cooper on Wednesday.
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The Lee family wished to thank the entire community for its support in the wake of last Wednesday night’s fire that destroyed the Valley St home they had lived in for the past 14 years.
“The boys have never known any other home,” Hayley said of her sons.
“The whole community has been donating things – it’s been overwhelming.
“We really wanted to thank everyone who has helped us out – especially our neighbours Rodney and Carolyn Potter for getting us to safety that night.
“Our employer Bega Cheese has also been amazing and the NRMA has been fantastic with helping us through the insurance claims.
“St Pat’s and Bega High School [the boys’ schools] have been so great and doing fundraising for us all week.
“And special thanks also to our friends and family – particularly Stephen’s parents for housing us at the moment,” she said.
Hayley and Stephen also sincerely thanked the emergency services for their response and support on the night, after a suspected electrical fault sparked a fire in Caleb’s bedroom around 11pm that quickly engulfed the entire weatherboard home.
Caleb, 14, said he hadn’t long been in bed when he woke to see an odd orange glow in his room.
Looking down he saw the foot of his bed was on fire.
“I jumped straight out of bed and ran to mum and dad’s room and said ‘there’s a fire in my room’ – and just at that moment the fire alarms went off,” Caleb said.
Stephen said even though it was great their smoke alarms were working, that extra minute or so warning from Caleb made all the difference in getting the family to safety.
“I remember when he was about in Year 2 or 3, Caleb came home from school and asked us ‘do we have a fire plan’,” Hayley said.
“So we sat down and worked out our plan and made sure the boys understood it all, what to do and where we’d go.
“On that night he followed it to a T,” she said of Caleb.
- A GoFundMe page has been set up to help the Lee family find their feet: www.gofundme.com/fire-relief-for-the-lee-family