The Champions, an Elanora Heights family of four, almost lost their home after a fiery accident brought about by a crystal ball left in sunlight.
After spending $60,000 in upgrades and customisations, Matty Champion and his wife Melinda were able to transform their bus into a fully-operational mobile home complete with a kitchen, shower, and toilet. The couple lived in the bus with their two daughters, Jordan and Billie.
Their passion project had cost them a large chunk of their savings, and the Champions almost witnessed it all go up in flames after a crystal ball left in the vehicle’s centre console magnified sunlight and burned a pillow, starting a fire. According to the buses’ CCTV footage, the ball had been smoking for over an hour before fire began to spread.
The family came into possession of the ball after expressing interest in crystals and natural healing, however they’d failed to anticipate the destructive properties of glass in harsh sunlight. The Champions were lucky enough that one of their neighbours informed them immediately after spotting smoke coming from the vehicle.
Their neighbour then doused the flames with a fire extinguisher, and by the time the local fire brigade had arrived, the situation was already under control.
Following the accident, crystals are now banned from the front of the bus in order to prevent any fires starting inside. The Champions remarked that they were lucky that the fire didn’t destroy their home entirely, for they’d invested far too much time and money into its transformation from a simple vehicle into a home on wheels.