Hundreds lose belongings in blaze
A destructive fire that blazed for seven hours has destroyed the belongings of up to 300 Logan residents.
The 1600sqm Storage King facility on Kingston Road burned through the night on June 27 – requiring authorities to establish an exclusion zone around the property and Queensland police to call an emergency declaration under the Public Safety Preservation Act (PSPA).
Community stalwart Tammy Robinson-Heynatz is among the victims of the blaze, which torched her storage unit.
The Formally Ever After founder gifts free formal dresses and suits to students across the country who cannot afford to buy clothes to attend their school formal.
Mrs Robinson-Heynatz’s unit stored a large amount of formal wear donated to her charity by people around Australia.
Not only did the unit store donations, but it was also the temporary home of some personal belongings of Ms Robinson-Heynatz’s while her family move house.
“I can’t believe it,” Ms Robinson-Heynatz said.
“We had heaps of donations, and because I’m moving house, we had even more stuff there.
“It makes me feel so bad, because people all over Australia had donated that to us and it’s all gone.”
She said the unit’s contents weren’t insured.
“I can’t pay every insurance, I pay it all by myself – I’d rather pay for my own insurance and public liability for the program,” she said.
“And even if we did have insurance, it doesn’t replace all those memories.
“These dresses are people’s treasure and they’ve sent it to us in hopes it goes to a student.
“I feel like I’ve let all those people down.”
The devastating blow comes just days after Ms Robinson-Heynatz celebrated the happiest moment of her life – her wedding to partner Athol.
They first met in 2019 after she helped his son find a suit for an awards ceremony.
“Athol and I became friends, and fast-forward four to five months… he asked me out on a date and I said yes,” Mrs Robinson-Heynatz said.
“We got engaged later that year and sat engaged not doing anything about it.”
But things changed two months ago when Mr Heynatz had a health scare.
“I got a phone call from his boss in the morning saying they think Athol had a heart attack,” she said.
Mr Heynatz ended up being ok, but Mrs Robinson-Heynatz said it made her think: “what are we waiting for?”
Properties along Kingston Road, Juers Road, Skyline Drive, Jacaranda Avenue and Hibiscus Street were evacuated when the 27 June blaze was active.
Woodridge MP Cameron Dick said 40 people, two children, seven dogs and 12 cats were ushered to a temporary evacuation centre at the Kingston Butter Factory.
According to the Queensland Ambulance Service a woman in her 20s and a man in his 40s were taken to Logan Hospital,
Storage King self-storage and fund manager Nikki Lawson said it was believed around one-third of units were impacted by the fire.
“Not the entire facility has been affected, so we’re working through the different buildings,” Ms Lawson said.
“We’re still working out how many units will be impacted by water and smoke.
“It is devastating for our people, our customers and our business, and at this stage we’re working really closely with authorities to get to the root cause of it.
“We have reached out to every customer, so every customer is aware.”
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