It was Saturday morning of August 10 when smoke began to bellow from a family’s home in Loganholme. As the fire took hold Lee Ellison, her two sons and their cat evacuated the house for safety. Unfortunately no one could find the family dog on the way out and hope was fading they would never see their beloved black Kelpie cross, Henrietta (Henny), again.
When fire-fighters went into the house, they were amazed to discover Henny hiding within the wreckage of the two-story home inside a couch.
Henny was saved by the fire officers but did suffer smoke inhalation and spent time in the ICU. She is now doing remarkably well on the road to recovery.
With everything going on with Henny, the family also had to deal with losing everything they owned and try to figure out what to do next.
In times like this, Logan residents do get a sent a guardian angel in the form of Logan House Fire Support Network and founder Louie Naumovski who was on scene to aid Lee and her family from the moment he arrived.
Mr Naumovski said that he sees many house fires each year in Logan City but every person and family needs something different each time.
“I come in and have my normal process that I follow and that is when I get to learn a lot about the people in the home.
“It is always great news to see everyone makes it out of the fire and now that Henny is doing better the rebuilding of the family’s lives begins and with such great support from the community the process is much easier.”
Logan House Fire Support Network began by setting up a GoFundMe page for the family to assist with the huge vet bills. Then along with IGA Loganholme, Loganholme Cricket Club and a number of other businesses that donated, a fundraiser BBQ was organised to help raise even more funds for the family.
Darrell from IGA Loganholme supplied the event with car parks in front of his store, sausages, bread and all other foods for the BBQ that was given away for free. Raffle tickets were sold and the BBQ was cooked by volunteers from all over Logan City.
The money figure raised on the day was over $2,800 and this will go to the family to help cover costs of rebuilding their lives and bills that keep coming in.
Lee Ellison said that she wants to thank everybody that has helped and that it has been such an overwhelming process and not really sure how to say thank you.
“We are just taking one step at a time and to have Louie from Logan House Fire Support Network and Darrell from IGA and the people of the community come down and help; it’s pretty crazy stuff.
“You don’t realise until something this tragic happens whose actually there in the community.
“Moving on from now we will look at rebuilding at some point because I just love living here so I definitely want to come back.
“We are just trying to get settled where we are currently and I don’t even know what is in my house as so many people helped us move in and have loaned us stuff and given us stuff so just trying to move forward and keep smiling.”
The generosity of the community and the outpour of support has been something that this city can be proud of. You can still help Lee and her family by visiting the GoFundMe page or by contacting Logan House Fire Support Network via their website or Facebook page.