A family on a long-term trip around Australia who lost everything in a fire have urged others travelling in caravans to regularly check batteries and electrical equipment.
7News reports that Nathan and Lauren Goncalves and their children set out from their home on the NSW Central Coast in November on what was to be a year-long travel adventure.
However, they had stopped at a campground at Fitzgerald Bay, about 40 kilometres from the SA town of Whyalla on January 12 when disaster struck.
Lauren was inside their caravan with their eight-month-old daughter, Ocea, when she saw smoke coming from the rear passenger seat of their 2023 Nissan Patrol.
Grey nomads are being urged to ensure they have always have a fire extinguisher handy. PIC: Blickpixel / Pexels
She told 7News that she immediately rushed outside and about 10 other people at the campsite joined the family in trying to put out the fire.
However, there was nothing they could do to stop the blaze from destroying both their car and caravan.
“It was the hardest thing to sit back and watch it burn … we just sat there and literally crumbled,” Lauren told 7News. “The hardest part for me was when I saw the roof of the van cave in, and I knew that was it and our lives were about to change forever.”
Nathan said it quickly became clear that efforts to save their vehicles were hopeless.
“We got to a point where we exhausted everything to the point where I was just throwing sand,” he told 7News. “I just had to tell myself there was nothing we could do.”
Nathan, who is an electrician, told 7News that — based on its intensity — he believes the fire was a result of an electrical fault.
He speculates that a lithium battery which was kept in the car to power a fridge may have short-circuited.
And he urges other RV travellers to ensure they always have a fire blanket and extinguisher available.
He told 7News that none of the extinguishers other groups at the campground provided were suitable for electrical fires.
While insurance will cover almost all the cost of the caravan and car, many sentimental items were lost.
“It’s one of those things you never think is going to happen,” Nathan said. “We only had a $1000 worth of content cover on our caravan, so everything we had in our caravan is not going to be covered.”
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I note that the couple had their van contents under insured, this can be a double catastrophe as the Insurer can average the policy and only pay a percentage of total insured value.
It is beyond me that batteries installed are not fused on the battery terminal.