Neighbours save shed blaze family

By Kath Gannaway
CRAIG Clerke was towelling himself off after a late night shower when he heard a jet flying over his Launching Place house.
Only it wasn’t a jet.
“It sort of faded away like a plane does, but then it was still there,” Mr Clerke told the Mail.
“I walked outside and just went ‘Wow!; all I could see was flames.”
A new shed next door was well and truly blazing by the time he yelled to his wife to phone the fire brigade and started banging on neighbours Elise and Keith Van Der Made’s front door.
It was after 11pm and most of the neighbourhood was asleep but within minutes neighbours came from everywhere to help stop the fire spreading until brigades from Launching Place and Woori Yallock arrived.
“The neighbours all around had hoses out to try to contain the flames coming out of the roof and if that hadn’t happened we would have been in a lot of trouble,” said Mrs Van Der Made who said the family, including the couple’s two children, Olivia and Ben, had been asleep until Mr Clerke raised the alarm.
“There were two houses under threat, both with bedrooms close to the fire; another 10 minutes who knows what would have happened.
“We feel we have got out of it with our lives and that’s thanks to Craig and our wonderful neighbours,” she said.
Mrs Van Der Made said the shed, built just eight months ago, had been a dream of her husband’s for more than 13 years and had been fitted out with the traditional Aussie bar and workbench.
Many of her late father’s possessions were also stored in the shed.
“We’ve lost everything we had in there but we’re not thinking of this as the tragedy of our shed, it’s just the way everyone came together which has made us feel really thankful to have such good neighbours and CFA volunteers,” Mrs Van Der Made said.
Mr Van Der Made admits the sight of his shed going up in flames almost brought him to tears. But he shares his wife’s gratitude for good neighbours and good fortune.
“We were lucky that Craig was still awake. To have a watchdog like that is fantastic,” he said.
“At the end of the day it’s just great to know that at the drop of a hat, no matter what happens, people just come to your aid.”
The cause of the fire has yet to be determined.