A huge blaze broke out on a property in Shaw Street, Yass, causing a huge plume of black smoke over the town last Monday night, 6 February.
Matt Carroll, Deputy Captain at Yass Fire and Rescue Station 511, was one of the eight members of his crew who attended the fire.
“At approximately 6:50pm, Yass Fire and Rescue were alerted to an incident on an alleged building fire in Shaw Street,” Carroll said.
“At the station, a few of our members could see a pretty intense plume of black smoke, so we knew we had a pretty significant working job on our hands.
“We responded with our two appliances, and we had an additional appliance from Boorowa come over as well.
“Upon arrival, we thought the rear of the residential dwelling at that location was involved in the fire, but upon investigation, there was a detached garage/shed at the back of the property roughly 10 metres by eight metres.
“The shed was fully involved in an intense, hot-burning fire. We weren’t sure of what it contained or what was in the shed at that point in time.
“We got to work with two crews in breathing apparatus, with two hose lines. We were able to knock down the bulk of the fire probably within half an hour of arrival.
“We spent from then about a half an hour extinguishing hotspots after that.”
According to reports, the fire was started by two gas bottles exploding in a shed, recently packed with furniture and other belongings.
“With the level of destruction, pretty much everything in the shed was destroyed. It appears that the fire started around the centre of the shed.
“The shed is totally destroyed, nothing was salvageable. The fire completely destroyed it all.
“We got the call around 6:50pm and we were on scene until about 9pm. We had two trucks from Yass, one from Boorowa, and the rehabilitation van from Harden also attended.”
Yass Fire and Rescue Deputy Captain Carroll said it was one of the most significant fires in Yass in a while.
“It’s probably one of the more significant fires we’ve had in recent times. Generally in the summertime, you’re more cautious about probably grass fires living in a rural area.
“It just shows that these type of structure fires in town can occur at any time of year. Of course, it’s lucky on this occasion it was contained to the structure of origin and didn’t spread to neighbouring properties and that no one was injured.”
Tim Warren
Photo credit at top Credit Lachlan Floyd