The Liffers family from Murrumbateman is now facing this grim reality after a fast-moving fire ripped through the heart of their Crisps Lane home in late February.

Octogenarians Eddy and Elke Liffers, their daughter Monica, her partner and their four children, were lucky to escape the fire that started in the back end of their large family home in the early hours of February 24 and quickly enveloped the house. 

They were thankfully unharmed, but the ferocious flames destroyed the house and everything in it.

Monica and her family had only just moved to Murrumbateman to help care for her elderly parents and did not yet have insurance organised for their new living situation.

Eddy and Elke had lived in their “dream house” for more than two decades and lost everything from reading glasses and hearing aids to precious family heirlooms.

“How do you start all over again when you’re in your eighties?” asked devastated daughter Sonja Achilles.

Sonja and her husband and son have been sleeping on mattresses and lounge chairs in the dining room of their Kambah house to help accommodate her parents who were left homeless.

She said her family is struggling to come to terms with such devastating loss.

“We are all in a terrible state,” Sonja told the Yass Tribune.

“Mum has been bed-bound since the fire and Dad is dealing with dementia and they have no idea how to start again. We are all just trying to figure out what to do next.”

Sonja said her sister Monica, who was recovering from a cancer diagnosis, and her partner now also faced losing their semi-renovated home in Charnwood due to mounting debts. They are currently living there, with their four children, without a kitchen or floor coverings.

“My sister has lost absolutely everything she owns and has to start again. She was in the process of moving out to help look after my parents and had not yet organised insurance, so she lost everything. 

“They are in a desperate state. She said she will need to work until she is 120 years old just to pay off her debts.”

The close-knit community of Murrumbateman banded together in the immediate aftermath of the fire and started a fundraising drive.

The fundraising efforts were spearheaded by the Murrumbateman RFS, Murrumbateman Lions Club and the Murrumbateman Country Inn.

In the days following the fire, the community raised $5000 in both cash and shopping vouchers for the family.

Sonja thanked the community for its generosity and said the support has in many ways helped ease their heartache.

“People have been so generous and we are so thankful,” Sonja said.

“It has been the worst experience with really high daily stress and not much sleep. 

“We don’t really know how we will cope or where to go from here but we are taking one day at a time.”

If you would like to help the Liffers family get back on its feet, monetary contributions can be dropped off at the Murrumbateman Country Inn.

It is simply too hard to store furniture and clothing at this stage. 

Please place the donation into a sealed envelope clearly marked ‘Murrumbateman house fire appeal’.

All donations will be directed to the family.