Couple left ‘devastated’ after home lost in Bridgetown fire

A Hester couple have been left “gutted” after a massive bushfire destroyed their family home and all their heartfelt items with it. Craig Evans and Neil Trevaskis were the incredibly unfortunate couple who lost their home during the 2400ha bushfire as it burned through the hills to the east of Bridgetown. Their timber home was the sole property destroyed in Hester by the fire which claimed everything the pair owned including treasured family items, legal documents, clothing and furniture. To make matters worst, Mr Evans and Mr Trevaskis were not in Bridgetown at the time of the fire because they were settling the estate of Mr Trevaskis’ mother who had passed away shortly after Christmas. “We were in Perth packing up (Mr Trevaskis’ mother’s) estate to bring it back so that was where we were when we were notified about the fire, we could not even go and get anything out of the house,” Mr Trevaskis said. “A fortnight before that we actually brought a whole bunch of personal belongings back like wedding albums and personal photos.” “Memories from our lives,” Mr Evans added. Both men described their initial reaction to finding out their home had been engulfed in flame as a moment of “disbelief in a way” saying when you hear a property has been destroyed in a bushfire you never assume it could be yours. Mr Evans said due to the potential hazardous material spill at the Timber Treaters site which involved a toxic ash cloud from burnt copper chrome arsenate pine poles, neither of them had been able to visit the wreckage and allow the loss to “properly sink in.” “We need to go and see (the house) to properly deal with it, walk through it and just say goodbye,” he said. Since the tragedy the pair said they have received an amazing response from friends, work colleagues and even complete strangers who wanted to help out anyway they could. Mr Evans said one of the acts of kindness they had witnessed was when a citizen gave them $100 to help them buy some food at Woolworths. “The bank has even offered customer support services for mental health, everyone has rallied around,” Mr Evans said. “The randoms you do not know who are anonymous on my gofundme site, I do not even know half these people, they are just friends of friends and the money they have put in has just been amazing. “Everywhere we go people will just come up and talk to us, locals have come up and given us a hug, I mean it tears your emotions apart.” The engaged couple have been staying with a friend at their property in Hester Brook while they organise meetings with local government officials and representatives from the Department of Fire and Emergency Services to discuss their options with accommodation going forward. Both men said they do not know the way forward yet but they just have to take it one day at a time for now.