A few months from now, we're going to celebrate Fire Prevention Week and one of the best ways to understand the dangers of fire is to remember worst fire incidents in Australia. By reading the harrowing stories of these fire disasters, people will be more aware of how dangerous fires can be. It will also help them realise the importance of fire safety regulations and fire protection systems.

 

Let's do the countdown.

 

1. Kew Cottages Fire

It was late Monday night (8 April 1996) when a fire razed Unit 31 of the Kew Residential Services or popularly known as Kew Cottages. Nine men died during that fire that ripped through the locked ward of the men's section. Kew Cottages is a residential for people with intellectual and physical disabilities in Melbourne. The inquest for the Kew Cottages Fire lasted for 81 days, with the investigations revealing that there was no proper fire protection system installed during the fire.

 

2. Quakers Hill Nursing Home Fire

11 people died, mostly elderly, when a drug dependent nurse set the nursing home on fire to cover up his theft of prescription drugs. The fire happened in November 18, 2011. Roger Dean, the nurse, pleaded guilty to 11 counts of murder and was jailed for life.

 

3. Slack Creek Fire.

A switched off smoke alarm was cause of death of 11 people, all of whom are family, in the fire that tore through a home in Logan on August 24, 2011. The surviving family member said that the fire alarm was turned because it was too noisy. This incident further emphasized the importance of a working fire alarm system.

 

4. Palm Grove Hostel Fire

Many were burned alive when a fire razed Palm Grove Hostel in Dungog, NSW, a facility that provided help for people with acute psychological problems. 12 residents died during the fire and the inquest found that the fire alarms did not work during the fire and the only phone in the facility was locked inside a room, preventing the residents from calling for help immediately.

 

5. Childers Palace Backpackers Hostel Fire

15 backpackers, nine of which were women and six were men, died in the fire at the Childers Palace Backpackers Hostel in June 23, 2000. Robert Paul Long, the arsonist who is a fruit picker and has expressed hate against backpackers, was sentenced to life in prison. The fire started out in the recreation room downstairs but there was no working smoke alarms to warn the backpackers who were staying on the second floor.

 

6. Savoy Hotel Fire

It was a Christmas morning in 1975 when occupants of the Savoy Hotel on Darlinghurst Road in the Kings Cross area of Sydney, Australia woke up to a blazing fire. Reginald John Lyttle was sentenced to four terms of life imprisonment for setting the hotel on fire. He set a stack of newspapers on fire near the rear door at 5:30 in the morning, trapping the occupants resulting to 15 deaths and 25 seriously injured.

 

7. Whiskey Au Go Go Fire

A new inquest has been ordered for the fire Whiskey Au Go Go fire that happened 44 years ago. It was 2am of March 8, 1973 when two 23-litre drums of diesel were thrown and ignited in the foyer of the nightclub, setting it on fire immediately. 15 people died during the fire and James Finch and John Stuart were convicted after the firebombing. However, new evidence surfaced that other people might be involved, prompting the authorities to order a new inquest.

 

8. Pacific Nursing Home Fire

16 elderly invalids died when a fire broke out at the Pacific Nursing Home in Sylvania Heights, New South Wales before midnight of April 29, 1981. The fire also injured 51 others. The facility has an installed fire protection system (fire door, smoke alarms, fire extinguishers) except for a sprinkler system.

 

9. Rembrandt Hotel Fire

19 people died when a deadly fire broke out at the Rembrandt Hotel at Kings Cross, NSW in 25 August 1981.

 

10. William Booth Memorial Home Fire

The deadliest fire so far in the history of Australia happened on 13 August 1966 at the Salvation Army home for destitute men in Melbourne. The fire started when a resident broke the rules and brought a heater into his room on that cold August night. The fire quickly spread out because there were no fire safety system installed. The money was spent more on feeding the men rather than spending on safety. However, this concept proved to be more deadly because 30 men during the fire.  

 

These fire incidents tell us one, not investing in fire protection can be deadly.

Geordie Killen

Control Fire Protection