Newborough pensioner Graham Bruce has described the “traumatic” moment he discovered his car alight in a carport outside his Tresswell Avenue unit.
The 74-year-old’s hatchback was one of four cars destroyed by fire in the early hours of Monday morning.
Police are yet to determine whether the fire was deliberately lit.
Mr Bruce said he was woken by a neighbour about 3.30am telling him to “get outside quickly with your car keys”.
“I came out, the fire was ablaze and my car was as yet untouched. The fire brigade were here, as were the police, and I attempted to cross the line to rescue my car,” Mr Bruce said.
“I wasn’t allowed to because I was told it was too dangerous, which is understandable, so I stood here and watched my car get destroyed – it was absolutely traumatic.”
“I rely totally on my car, I have a bad back and walk with a cane, I can’t use public transport so it’s my only means of transportation,” Mr Bruce, who has lived at the complex for 10 years, said.
Mr Bruce said the car was insured for third party cover, excluding fire and theft, because the excess would have cost more than the market value of the car.
“Now I’ve got nothing. I’ve had my car window smashed, I’ve had my radio removed, I had my boot jimmied and I lost my [previous] car during the last attack because it was undrivable,” he said.
Another resident, Barry Miller, said there had been “continuous trouble” at the Department of Health and Human Services’ Banksia Village complex since he moved in about five years ago.
“Nothing’s happened for the last two months but before that the police have been [to the complex] at least 40 times since I moved in,” Mr Miller, 71, said.
“Police try and do their best but it’s pointless, you know. We have heaps of violence; people breaking into vehicles, neighbours fighting one another and certain people living in here that shouldn’t be here.
“I’ve got no vehicle now, I’m stuck here … and it’s the worst place I’ve ever lived in my life.”
Mr Miller’s car was also not covered by insurance.
Sixty-year-old Craig Challis, whose unit backs onto the carport, raised the alarm with authorities after being woken to what sounded like “rocks hitting the roof”.
“I got up out of bed, walked out to the kitchen and saw the flames so I got onto triple zero,” Mr Challis said.
“It was a very fierce fire … my unit was only a few feet away from the fire … we’ve had a lot of incidents, it’s just one of them things I can’t do anything about. We’ve had break-ins to cars, number plates stolen and property damaged.”
He said the complex was often used as a public thoroughfare and “people walk through here at all times of the night”.
Latrobe Crime Investigation Unit Senior Constable Richard Kelly said the cause of the fire was yet to be determined and urged anyone who witnessed the blaze to contact police.
People with information are asked to phone Latrobe CIU on 5131 5000 or Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000.
