A family of six has been left homeless after fire engulfed their North Lambton property on Christmas Day.
A powerboard is suspected of sparking the blaze that ripped through the rented Nerong Road house.
Michael McNelis and his family were visiting relatives in Corlette when they received the devastating news that their house was well alight.
"We did Christmas morning at home like everyone else before we went up to my wife's grandmother's place," Mr McNelis said.
The first inkling something was wrong was a security alarm alert on his phone. It was followed by a missed call from a neighbour.
"I called back and they said my house was on fire. I could hear the fire brigade in the background," he said.
"I just got in my car and got home as quickly as possible. Emergency services were there and there was a big crane over the top of the house. It was a while before we got inside."
Michael and Emma McNelis and their four children aged between 20 and nine stayed with friends on Sunday night. They have been offered accommodation for the next week but they don't know where they will live beyond that.
The family returned to their burnt-out home on Monday to pick through the remains of their uninsured belongings.
"Every single thing is smoke and water affected," Mr McNelis said.
"We are just going through and finding little miracles of stuff that hasn't been destroyed, like photos and the kids' precious stuff that doesn't have a monetary value but it's special to them"
A GoFundMe page set up to support the family had raised $10,750 on Monday afternoon.
Mr McNelis said the fire commander on the scene had advised him that a four-socket powerboard was the most likely cause of the fire.
"He said it looked like it started from where we plugged in my son's Christmas present (a Nintendo Switch)," he said.
"The power tripped but it was already too late. It had burst into flames and it engulfed the kids' room and went into the roof."
Meanwhile, fire authorities say there has been a "concerning" trend in the number of fires involving lithium-ion battery powered devices over the past year.
"This year in NSW, we've seen 180 fires involving lithium-ion battery devices," Fire and Rescue NSW Assistant Commissioner Trent Curtin said. This is compared with just 16 in 2021.
Australian Competition and Consumer Commission deputy chair Delia Rickard said the lithium-ion batteries used in e-bikes and e-scooters are also found in smartphones, laptops and smartwatches.
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