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Couple learns on Facebook that their new home was destroyed by bushfire

A young Victorian couple were left devastated after learning on Facebook that their newly-renovated property had burnt to the ground during the weekend bushfire catastrophe.

While attending a friend’s birthday party Rebecca and Barney Jones kept a close eye on their emergency bushfire app, fearing for their Elingamite home.

After receiving an ominous phone call from her dad, confirming the fire threat, the pair rushed home to grab a few possessions and their dog.

They sought shelter at Mr Jones’s father’s house before that too was placed under threat, prompting another evacuation to a friend’s property in Warnambool.

Rebecca and Barney Jones discovered their house had burnt to the ground after their neighbour shared a Facebook post of the inferno. Source: Facebook/Rebecca Jones
Rebecca and Barney Jones discovered their house had burnt to the ground after their neighbour shared a Facebook post of the inferno. Source: Facebook/Rebecca Jones

It was there, while searching Facebook for updates that their worst fear was realised.

When Mrs Jones spotted a Facebook post from her neighbour revealing the flames, she knew their beloved home had perished in the flames.

“We’re gutted,” she wrote in an emotional Facebook post.

“We’ve lost a house we made our home.

“We’ve lost everything bar the clothes on our back.”

The couple said they were blown away by the support of the community. Source: Facebook/Barney Jones
The couple said they were blown away by the support of the community. Source: Facebook/Barney Jones

Despite their devastation, Mrs Jones said they have been blown away by the support of everyone around them.

“We appreciate everything the volunteers have done over the last 24-48 hours, fighting fires in their own backyards, knowing their house could be next,” she added.

“Nothing can explain the feeling of losing something you’ve worked so hard for, but at the end of the day we have our lives.”

More than 70 properties were destroyed when fires ripped through the coast town of Tathra on the NSW Far South Coast.

At least 18 homes have been damaged or destroyed in Victoria, with residents from several towns seeking shelter in relief centres.

Apart from the housing toll, hundreds of beef and dairy cattle have also been killed and about 40,000 hectares of prime pastoral and other lands burnt out.