Community Rallies After Grandparents Lose Home in Late-Night House Fire in Adelaide’s North
An Adelaide community is rallying to support a well-known couple who lost their home and all their possessions in a fast-moving house fire on Thursday night, April 2, 2026.
Emergency services were called to the property on Hope Drive in Paralowie shortly after 10:00 pm. The South Australian Metropolitan Fire Service (MFS) arrived to find the single-story brick home fully engulfed in flames.
Despite the efforts of 16 firefighters, the house was gutted, with the damage bill estimated at over $400,000.
One of the residents, identified as Bev Brown, was inside when the fire broke out and managed to escape just as the windows began to shatter. Her husband, John, a popular local soccer coach, returned from training minutes later to find their home of 25 years in ruins. Bev was treated at the scene by paramedics for minor smoke inhalation and taken to the Lyell McEwin Hospital as a precaution.
Community Support Grows
The couple is widely known in the northern suburbs for their decades of involvement with local sports clubs. Within hours of the blaze, neighbors and friends launched a GoFundMe campaign to help the grandparents cover immediate costs for clothing, medicine, and temporary accommodation.
“John and Bev have spent their lives helping others in this community; now it’s our turn to help them,” one neighbor said. Local volunteers have also been searching the surrounding streets for the couple’s two cats; while one was found safe under a nearby shed, the second remains missing.
Cause Under Investigation
MFS fire investigators returned to the Hope Drive property on Friday morning. While a formal cause has not yet been finalized, preliminary reports suggest the fire may have started in the rear outdoor entertaining area before spreading into the roof space.
Authorities have confirmed the fire is not being treated as suspicious.
WATCH THE VIDEO ABOVE: A family home has been destroyed by a raging fire shared by 9News
