A father and his two children have been left with nothing but the clothes on their backs after a ferocious house fire tore through their home on Good Friday 2026. The fire, believed to have been sparked by an e-bike battery, destroyed the single-storey home on Pheasant Ct in Miami, Gold Coast.
Danny McCall had just celebrated his son Chase's 13th birthday the day before, buying him a mountain bike and promising a trip to Brisbane's tracks. The trip was underway when McCall missed a call from a neighbour alerting him to the blaze. Queensland Fire and Emergency Services were called about 9am, with four crews arriving to find the carport engulfed by flames.
Police urgently tried to determine if anyone was inside, but the fire was so intense crews could not safely enter. McCall confirmed his children, Chase and Chloe, 8, were safe with him. By the time they returned from Brisbane, their home and everything in it was gone. McCall had only recently moved into the rental home following a relationship breakdown and had not yet arranged contents insurance.
The emotional toll has been particularly heavy on the children. Chase lost almost everything he received for his birthday and Christmas. For Chloe, the trauma is compounded by the fact her bedroom window was beside the carport where the fire started. The blaze tore through that part of the home with such intensity nothing inside could be recognised. McCall said if the fire had happened at night, the outcome could have been far worse.
