It has been more than a year since Sally and Troy Harper were devastated by a fire on their Legerwood property.
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The blaze destroyed nearly $1 million in machinery, including one sentimental piece - a tractor belonging to Sally’s father who had passed away only months earlier.
The vehicle had been handed down to the Harper’s teenage son, Jake, who immediately thought ‘oh no, pop’s tractor’ when he saw the shed on fire last year.
After hearing the news, the Legerwood community joined together to help the Harper family and another tractor was delivered by a group of their friends a week later, ready for Jake to restore.
Fast-forward to now and an “ecstatic” Jake has finished fixing up the tractor and has since been showing it off at local events.
“He took it to Ringarooma Show and Scottsdale Show and everyone was commenting on it,” his dad said.
“It took about eight or 10 months, but he restored it with our neighbour.”
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Mr Harper said his wife was “over the moon” and her dad would be “very proud” of his grandson.
“Our whole family is very proud of Jake,” he said.
The fire also destroyed the shed, which the Harper’s used to store equipment for their family-run business.
The shed has since been replaced and while the fire caused significant damage and saw the family face financial difficulties over the past year, Mr Harper said it made him appreciate where he lived.
“The community was just fantastic with their support and has still been fantastic,” he said.
“Financially it was very hard, but we were back up and running within about four or five days of the fire … we had people helping out with machinery … we are just very grateful to the community.”
Tasmania Fire Service investigated the blaze and found it was accidental.