Community rallies around Rockingham single mother of four facing homelessness after fire destroys family home

The community is rallying around a single mother and her four children after their Rockingham home was destroyed in a fire last week. Nothing could be salvaged from Kristine Meakins’ rental property on Haselmere Circus when it burnt down last Monday after a blaze broke out about 1pm. Ms Meakins said she had just laid down in her bedroom to have a nap after a busy morning. Her eldest daughter, Charlotte, was watching her youngest, Taylah, her son Vayden was playing in the front room and her son Josh was in the backyard sandpit when she heard yelling. “I heard ‘Mum, fire!’ and I told the kids to get out the front of the house,” Ms Meakins said. “I had a look (in the backyard) to see what was going on. “I couldn’t turn one of my back hoses on properly, because I’d turned it off with a spanner because it was actually dripping and I didn’t want to get a high water bill. “So I’m stupidly looking around for a spanner because it’s the first thing on my mind to turn this thing on. “And then I yelled at Charlie to get the front hose through the back, but the second the hose touched the water, it spread way more — which told me straight away it was an electrical fire.” Once she confirmed her children were safe outside, Ms Meakins ran back inside the house to grab her phone from a front room, thinking the fire would still be at the back of the house. “The fire was already halfway through my home by that point,” Ms Meakins said. “I grabbed my phone and a charger, because I knew that literally that was the last thing that was going to help us with anything. “(But) if anyone else is in the same position, don’t go inside, it’s dumb. “Then I went to go back in again after that to get my car keys, because my car keys are right at the front door. “And I was physically held back and I was not allowed to get back in.” Ms Meakins said she believed it took just 45 seconds for the fire to spread from the backyard throughout her house. It was so destructive DFES investigators were not able to determine a cause — although Ms Meakins thinks it was sparked by an outdoor power socket. The family were left homeless, with the only things saved the clothes on their backs and phones belonging to Ms Meakins and Charlotte. The fire is another cruel blow to a family that has gone through many challenges in the past few years, including Ms Meakins’ father being jailed in 2022 after being found guilty of attempted murder following a horrifying attack on his ex-wife — Ms Meakins’ mother — when he tried to stab her as she slept in her bed. In the aftermath, Ms Meakins and her children have been left with little family support and she said she was able to secure only two nights accommodation in a motel from Government support services last week. She is now on the Department of Communities’ priority housing list but said she has been told she faces a three to five-year wait. On Monday, Ms Meakins was thrown a lifeline by the Broken Crayons Still Colour Foundation, which organised a caravan for her and her children to live in until they are able to find permanent accommodation. The community has also rallied, with JAX Tyres and Auto Kwinana donating new tyres for Ms Meakins’ car and others donating clothes and essential items to the family. Neighbours took Ms Meakins and her children in the night after the fire and another neighbour organised school clothes and equipment for them. “My street really did surprise me,” she said. “I knew everybody on my street, but I didn’t realise that they cared that much. It was really nice.” Next-door neighbour Toni Marzoli was home during the fire and saw the devastation firsthand, prompting her to put the call out on social media for donations to help the family. Since then, Ms Meakins and her children have been provided with food and clothes to wear, with one of her sons given enough for a whole wardrobe. Ms Marzoli also set up a GoFundMe fundraiser for the family, which Ms Meakins said would provide them with savings to fall back on. To donate to the fundraiser, visit bit.ly/3tLqywY.