After losing his house to Australian bushfire, man wins $1 million in lottery

A firefighter hosed down trees and flying embers in an effort to secure nearby houses from bushfires near the town of Nowra in the Australian state of New South Wales. Image: AFP/Saeed Khan

A fire victim who lost his home to the on-going bushfires in Australia found some hope in rebuilding his life after being the sole winner of a lottery draw worth one million Australian dollars (P34.8 million).

The lotto winner, who chose to be anonymous, stated that he lost his family home to the wildfire in New South Wales (NSW) last year. He said their house was not insured and they were left with nothing but “a few charred teacups,” as per Nine News today, Jan. 9.

The winner of the Gold Lotto draw expressed his joy about winning the lottery this morning.

“This is a miracle,” he was quoted as saying.

The man apparently used his wife’s “special numbers” to get the winning combination.

Meanwhile, the New South Wales Rural Fire Service made an impact assessment of the bushfire on their official Twitter page today, Jan. 9. The figures show that as of writing, 1,870 homes have been destroyed while 22,000 other buildings were saved.

Building Impact Assessment teams continue assessing damage to properties. This season 1,870 homes destroyed & over 22,000 buildings saved. Teams assessed over 10,000 buildings since 1 January, confirming the loss of 954 homes. This figure is likely to increase. #nswrfs #nswfires pic.twitter.com/TcBKPg8700

— NSW RFS (@NSWRFS) January 8, 2020

Out of the 10,000 buildings that the fire service assessed on Jan. 1, they have confirmed that 954 homes were lost. The fire services also stated that these figures would most likely increase through the rest of the season. Cha Lino/JB

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