A SNAKE Valley family has lost everything except the clothes on their backs after a fire tore through their home on Friday night.
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The family home of more than 15 years was destroyed in the blaze which may have started due to an electrical fault in the living room.
Fortunately there were no injuries as the family was out to dinner at the time while a pet labrador was later found alive near the rubble.
Marcus Grigsby said he could only watch on in horror as the home he grew up in went up in flames.
“We’ve lost everything,” Mr Grigsby who spoke to The Courier on Saturday said. “We’ve been back today to have a look to see if we can find some rings and jewellery and small items but there’s just so much ash, there’s not much we can find.”
Emergency services were called out to the blaze at 7.45pm after neighbours reported hearing two explosions coming from the property.
Mr Grigsby said he was relieved that everyone was safe.
“To be honest, you read about things like this happening to other people and you don’t take much notice,” he said.
“But it’s just such a crazy thing to have happened. We’re relieved that no-one was hurt, but at the time you wonder if you had have been home it may have been able to be prevented.
“I live in Linton now and I couldn’t get onto mum for about 30 minutes so I drove straight down when I’d heard, but they were safe.
He said while the bricks and mortar of the house could be rebuilt, precious mementos would be hard to replace.
“My great grandfather bought a Mercedes Benz, brand new, many years ago and it’s been passed down to the family,” he said.
“I was only thinking the other day I need to take it out for a drive, but that can’t happen now.”
Mr Grigsby said he had been overwhelmed with support from the community.
“I play football at Carngham-Linton and I went down to the club today and every single person was saying they were thinking of the family and offering to help out in anyway they could,” he said.
“The community has really opened their heart, even last night people were offering help and we just can’t thank them for their support enough.”