A COUPLE travelling to visit an elderly family member have survived a car fire.
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Ray and Lesley Portburry were travelling to Sydney to visit Lesley’s mother, who recently had a fall.
Mr Portburry noticed a small amount of smoke inside his 2001 model Land Rover while driving on the Hume Highway, south of Chiltern, on Sunday morning.
The electrical system failed and he drove the car to the side of the road.
The couple got out of the vehicle before it was engulfed in flames.
Passersby helped the pair detach a caravan, which has been their home for the past decade.
Mr Portburry – an electrician by trade – had only just had the vehicle serviced by an auto electrician in his hometown of Broome.
“No-one is hurt,” he said.
“We’re still standing here which is a blessing.”
The fire broke out in the northbound lanes about 10.20am.
Firefighters from Chiltern attended, but nothing could be done to save the vehicle.
Mr Portburry said he was unsure of what to do next.
“I don’t know how I feel … it was a bit of a shock,” he said.
“The caravan is our house.
“We don’t have an actual house any more.
“The caravan is safe, which is the main thing.”
Mr Portburry wanted to thank those who stopped to help him.
“We’ve been been travelling for nearly 10 years, living out of the van for nearly 10 years” he said.
“We’ve never had anything like that happen to us.
“The gearbox and engine have played up – just the normal breakdown type of things – but nothing like this.”
Mr Portburry had looked over the auto electrician’s work and said he was happy with the job he had undertaken.
He called his insurance company after the crash but had been unable to get through.
The fire had been so hot, the vehicle’s roof partially caved in and windows shattered.
All but one tyre burst.
The incident caused cars to slow on a small stretch of the highway.