Its just over 50 years since Kurrajong Heights lost the Kurrajong Heights Hotel to fire on 14th April 1975. Fire fighters then spent more than 6 hours fighting the blaze and crews from Freemans Reach, Kurrajong, Grose Vale, Bilpin, Wilberforce and Glossodia all responded.
It was a similar story with Loxley. The Brigade was despatched at 19.03 and we placed an advice to the community on Facebook at 7.07.
First on the scene was Group Officer Phil Hurst who went there directly. He was closely followed by our tankers. Deputy Captain Jon Ingersole was first to arrive in Kurrajong Heights1 (KH1) with Craig Irving, David Langford, Emily Langford and Liam Wootton on board. Deputy Captain Duncan Murison brought Kurrajong Heights7 (KH7) down on his own and Senior Deputy Captain Mark Jol made his own way to the fire.
Craig Irving tells us what happened from his view:
It is quite sad, I remember having a chance amongst the chaos to talk with the manager and she was distraught and lost for words.
After leaving the station for a structure fire call my thoughts were what building is at 993 BLOR. Driving down the hill, we couldn’t see any indications until we passed the school at Stone Terrace where we could see and smell smoke.
Upon arriving at the Loxley driveway, a worker was there to tell us where the fire was with directions. Driving down the tight and narrow road in the dark we came upon the structure fire which was well alight and in the roof.
Thankfully Phil Hurst was already there and took control of the incident, but as the first truck there we definitely felt overwhelmed. Two lines two lengths were immediately laid, and we took up defensive positions by the stone stairs. The priority was to keep water on the gas bottles to keep them cool but as you can see in one of the supplied images the bottles ignited and lit up the sky. By now Kurrajong’s Cat 1 arrived but both trucks quickly ran out of water as we tried to contain the spread.
Once we ran out of water KH1 was tasked to find alternative water sources using the local knowledge of Mark Jol who has carried out quite a lot of renovation work at Loxley. We set up a portable pump at the pool to provide a water source at the rear of the property where Kurrajong 1 repositioned to the pool to provide suction from their high-flow truck pump.
I spoke with Erin the manager and she pointed out where some water tanks were. Duncan and I set out to get started. Located uphill from the incident we used KH7 and a portable pump and connected to this water source. Rolling four lengths of 65mm hoses down the hill connecting to KH1, being the first truck on scene she was in the best position to receive bulk water and supply attack lines and water to Glossodia pumper.
After we established a water source, I had a chance to take in the scene and how it expanded to several local brigades and some from other districts as well as FRNSW. It was great to see such a huge response from the community but looking at the fire it was clearly too late to save the property.
By about 11pm we were settled into our roles which was monitoring KH1 pump ensuring adequate flow to all lines without overflowing our own water tank.
We left the incident at roughly 2am, leaving our lines and pumps there for the overnight crews to utilise.
A very sad scene, for everyone that had had events and weddings there as well as the 75 couples the owner had to reach out to and cancel their weddings.
It was a blur, though we were there for seven hours it didn’t feel like it. Just glad everyone made it out safe apart from the owner’s son who was sent to hospital with smoke inhalation.
David Langford commented:
I was amazed at how quickly we managed to get water on the fire. From my point of view it was like we had trained for a month prior everyday it was that quick. I have never seen us work so quickly. I would suggest from out of truck to setup and water on the fire was about 1 to 1.5 minutes.
I also scouted out the Peppercorn Lodge water tanks from local knowledge. Loxley is my Neighbour. We also took on directing additional trucks and tankers down Stone Terrace onto the back entrance to Loxley.
A major requirement for any fire is to source enough water. Our Brigade had completed a Pre Incident visit to Loxley so Incident Controller Phil Hurst was familiar with the geography of the place. The pool provided a significant source of water and it was supplemented by the Hawkesbury Bulk Water Carrier, a water tanker which is part of the RFS fleet.
One of our fire pumps at the other end of the Loxley pool
The view up to the smouldering building from the pool
A requirement for dealing with a structure fire is the use of CABA, or Compressed Air Breathing Apparatus units and not all Brigades have been equipped with these devices. In requesting additional RFS units to the fire, Phil Hurst had to specify CABA equipped brigades. One of these was Glossodia and Liam Wootton, who is CABA trained, attached himself to that crew for the night.
The resources allocated to the fire were immense and included Fire & Rescue trucks from Richmond, Windsor and Riverstone. Additional units were staged but not used and these included an Aerial Applicance and a Heavy Hazmat unit. At the peak Fire & Rescue had 12 units and an estimated 48 personnel at the fire.
Two ambulances responded to the fire and one was needed to transport Loxley owner Paul Maher’s son to hospital. He had tried single handedly to put the fire out when it first started and received burns to his face and hands. Four ambulance paramedics attended the fire and remained on site for most of the night.
There were an estimated 120 firefighters on the scene and they worked through the night and more crews were assigned the next day. Catering was a necessary requirement and the crew from Hawkesbury Catering provided an outstanding service. They arrived on scene around midnight and served meals and stayed until mid-morning.
The fire investigation unit was on the scene the following morning to try to identify the source of the fire. There were two RFS investigators, one Police and a NSW Fire & Rescue canine unit. There are no suspicious circumstances but a report is still required.
After the first hour the Incident Controller duties were passed from Phil Hurst to Hawkesbury District Manager Superintendent Jonathon Hill. He was best placed to manage all the inter services liaison and he provided an interview to Channel 9 news which can be viewed here:
There was still a few embers smouldering the next morning and the full extent of the damage could be viewed. Here are a coupe of pictures:
The gas bottles vented as they are designed to do but did not explode
The fire has caused an enormous loss to the owners and to the community. There were 75 couples who had booked a wedding at Loxley. Can you imagine having to call them all with the sad news?
There is a very good video that Loxley made explaining their venue and their wedding services. You can view it here:
Photos by Craig Irving, Phil Hurst, Glossodia and Freemans Reach Brigades and NSW RFS
This video from Phil Hurst shows the ferocity of the fire:
The response was huge. In addition to the estimated 48 personnel from Fire & Rescue there were 112 RFS volunteers and staff making a total of 160. In addition there were personnel from the Ambulance, Police and Traffic Management services plus staff from the energy company.
The following resources attended the fire:
- Blaxlands Ridge 1
- Blue Mountains Support
- Cumberland Bulk Water
- Cumberland Group Officer
- Cumberland Logistics
- Freemans Reach 1
- Freemans Reach PC
- Glossodia Pumper
- Grose Vale 1Alpha
- Hawkesbury Bulk Water
- Hawkesbury Deputy Group 6
- Hawkesbury Deputy Group 8
- Hawkesbury Deputy Group 9
- Hawkesbury FCO2
- Hawkesbury Group 1
- Hawkesbury On Call Officer
- Hawksbury On Call Officer
- Headquarters 1
- Headquarters PC
- Kellyville 17
- Kurrajong 1
- Kurrajong 7
- Kurrajong Heights 1
- Kurrajong Heights 7
- Oakville 1 Bravo
- Oakville 1 Charlie
- Oakville PC
- Oakville Pumper
- Regentville Pumper
- RFS Media
- The Hills Group Officer
- The Hills Support Unit
- Valley Heights 6
- Wilberforce 1
- Winmalee Pumper
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