After spending a month moving into their new property in Harcourt, central Victoria, Ben Lawrence and his partner Danika were looking forward to their first official night at home.
At 2pm on Friday, January 9, one last trailer load was threatened by forecast rain in Melbourne, so they hit the road once more.
“It was a hot wind, 43 [degrees Celsius], pretty exhausted from moving anyway and we were planning on being back in six or seven hours,” Mr Lawrence said.
Half an hour later, the news came that an out-of-control grassfire had started in Ravenswood South, less than 10 kilometres from their home.
There was nothing they could do as flames fuelled by catastrophic winds headed straight for the home they had owned for 32 days.
The remains of Ben and his partner Danika’s home in Harcourt. (ABC Central Victoria: Anna McGuinness)
Now it is a pile of twisted tin and charred brick, their belongings are ash and a dozen valuable cars have been reduced to burnt-out shells.
On the side of the road, a washing machine waiting to be installed, starkly white amongst the black and grey, sits somehow unscathed.
The couple is “heartbroken”.
“We’ve put everything we had into moving up here and making a big change and it’s all gone, we’ve got absolutely nothing,” Mr Lawrence said.
“Just realising what is missing — everything we’ve worked towards for 30 years and collected, it’s all just there,” he said, pointing to the rubble where his house and shed stood just days ago.
About a dozen cars, some irreplaceable, were lost in the blaze. (ABC Central Victoria: Anna McGuinness)
Mr Lawrence, a mechanic, had closed his business in Melbourne restoring cars and was getting ready to start it up again in the country.
It means about a dozen cars, worth approximately $250,000, were destroyed in the fire.
The vehicles were uninsured and some were custom-made.
They cannot be replaced.Â
The home is one of nearly 50 authorities say have been lost to the Ravenswood blaze.
The couple owned the home for just over a month. (ABC Central Victoria: Anna McGuinness)
Water, power issues for residents
On Monday, the fire was still not under control but no longer spreading, and Harcourt residents were told they could return home.
But significant issues remain in the town with contaminated water, disrupted power supply and patchy mobile service.
A stone rail bridge in Harcourt surrounded by blackened earth. (ABC News: Emile Pavlich)
Train services have also been impacted on the Bendigo line, with repairs needed to 5.7 kilometres of track between Ravenswood and Castlemaine.Â
A Coliban Water spokesperson said it could take two weeks to restore safe drinking water to about 500 affected customers.
Police are also investigating reports of a burglary from a vacant home in Harcourt at the weekend.
A Victoria Police spokesperson said several items of value were stolen from the Picnic Gully Road property, which was accessed through an unlocked window.
“Victoria Police are running dedicated reassurance police patrols to keep a lookout for any suspicious activity,” the spokesperson said.