By KATH GANNAWAY
Warburton birthday bash saves Sykes as Reefton home was gutted…
REEFTON couple Ron and Carol Sykes were left with nothing but the clothes on their backs and their cars after fire destroyed their Nello Drive log-cabin home on Tuesday night.
Ron believes the decision to brave a cold, rainy night to celebrate his birthday in Warburton on 27 May, may have saved their lives.
The house was a blazing inferno by the time neighbours and CFA units from Reefton and down the valley arrived. Neighbours had heard two explosions.
“If we’d been in the middle of the house, I doubt we would have got out,” Ron said.
“If it’d been two hours later, we would have been tucked up in bed … and we would have been dead,” he added.
Neighbours, including CFA volunteer Ross Minifee rushed to the house, but could do nothing.
Another neighbour, Steve Spence, rang Ron, not knowing whether Carol’s car in the carport meant they had gone out together, or the terrible alternative.
“Steve rang about 7.30 and said the house was pretty well alight,” Ron said, explaining that he sometimes went out for the night and Carol was home alone.
“Knowing that, Steve was very concerned, but relieved once he knew we were both alright.”
The couple lost their home, treasured family heirlooms and 49 years of photos and other personal possessions, but the kindness and support of friends, neighbours and strangers, they say, is something they will never forget.
Contacting the Mail on Thursday, Ron and Carol said they wanted to thank the people who had been so generous, from neighbours providing a land-line for the raft of calls that were needed to be made, to food hampers, words of encouragement, hugs and shoulders to lean on.
“A couple we’ve never seen before from down the road stopped and asked if there was anything they could do and when we went to K-Mart to buy clothes to replace what we’d lost, they gave us a discount,” Ron said.
A gift of $500 resulting from a whip-around of Reefton CFA volunteers was particularly overwhelming.
Ron said he also wanted to share his gratitude for life.
“I’m just saying, don’t fuss over material things,” he said, his voice cracking a bit.
“Be grateful if you can get up in the morning and take a breath of fresh air and go for a walk. Be grateful for your family, and for good neighbours.”
It’s not that they haven’t shed a few tears over the past week, but they have a roof over their heads at Warburton Caravan Park and plans for the future.
“When you stop and work out how many hours you’ve lived, probably hundreds of thousands of hours, and for the sake of two hours, that could have been it, I don’t see it as a misfortune, but good luck.”
Reefton CFA captain Andy McDonald said the age of the building, and a straw ceiling had resulted in an incredibly intense fire.
He said the building was fully involved when firefighters arrived at the Nello Drive house around 7pm, with units from Bayswater, Yellingbo, Warburton, Wesburn and Reefton responding.
CFA investigators were unable to determine a cause for the fire.
