Two weekend fires leave personal items and house damaged
Published Date: 31 Jul 2013
Summary
Daily Liberal
A WELDING spark sent 11 fire trucks rushing to a property outside Wongarbon at the weekend as the owner stood in shock watching $150,000 of personal equipment melt before his eyes.
NSW Rural Fire Service (RFS) Orana operations officer Inspector Laurie Douglas said firefighters had a busy Saturday as they battled two rural fires.
Inspector Douglas said firefighters struggled at first to contain the intense fire on Barbigal Road, four kilometres out of Wongarbon.
"Everything was on fire and there was a lot of toxic smoke," he said.
"We didn't know how big it was because it was a structural fire."
Inspector Douglas at first sent six trucks in response to the triple-0 call 12 minutes after but then sent an additional four to help battle it.
Dubbo Fire Station sent one truck as police and paramedics attended the scene.
Property owner Mark Woodley said he was working in one of his containers on Saturday afternoon and a small fire began from a welding spark.
He opened the door to try to extinguish the flame quickly with a hose but the fire "got a gutful of oxygen" and went out of control.
"It basically went 'boof' and jumped to the next container," he said.
Within 10 minutes the fire was out of control.
Panicking at trying to salvage his precious collectable items and battling a huge fire he grabbed the phone and rang his brother, a volunteer firefighter who came to the scene first.
Minutes later the RFS trucks raced to contain the fire but struggled in the intense heat.
"There are no words to describe it... thankfully no one was injured," he said. Inspector Douglas said the fire was under control just after 5pm.
Mr Woodley was moved as he spoke of the treasured items he had travelled the world to find.
"This stuff is not replaceable, its value is priceless," he said.
"I just want to start to clean up, but where the hell do I start?"
A NSW Ambulance spokeswoman said Mr Woodley was treated for smoke inhalation but declined transport to hospital.
For Inspector Douglas the day was not over as a second fire ripped through an unoccupied weatherboard house in Rawsonville on Saturday night.
Six RFS trucks were sent at 6:23pm to battle the blaze. Another three were dispatched and Dubbo Fire Station sent a truck to help out. Inspector Douglas said the "very intense fire" completely destroyed the structure in less than 20 minutes.
Police and ambulance were on scene.The cause was unknown and investigations were underway, however, Inspector Douglas used the opportunity to remind residents to be careful using heating this winter season.
"People think fires won't spread in winter but it is the worst time for it," he said.
"Please, be extra aware."
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