The Dandenong South blaze took more than 15 hours to fully extinguish. Inset: Mountains of second-hand timber and building materials prevented firefighters from fully accessing the back yard fire.By Shaun Inguanzo
A TIMBER inferno described as ‘Bunnings in a back yard’ took firefighters more than 15 hours to fully extinguish this week.
Firefighters had no choice but to flatten a neighbour’s carport with a front-end loader to access the back yard blaze because a jungle of timber floorboards, doors and other wooden building products blocked access to the Dandenong South property.
The residents of the Bryants Road property were storing a large amount of second-hand building products, mainly timber, firefighters said.
The fire was so severe that units from Noble Park, Narre Warren, Hallam and Frankston were called to the house to assist Dandenong Country Fire Authority (CFA) with the overnight job.
Dandenong CFA fire officer Daryl Owen said neighbours were alarmed because flames peaked up to six metres in height.
Firefighters began battling the blaze at 7.20pm on Tuesday night and were still dousing hotspots when Star spoke with them before noon yesterday (Wednesday).
“It took a little over an hour to bring the fire under control and we are still here now fixing the hotspots,” Mr Owen said.
“If you can imagine timber floorboards packed three metres high in an area the size of a back yard, we have got to pull that apart and black out the hotspots.”
Ground crews navigated narrow, chasm-like walkways with lengths of hose through the garage of the property where the fire orginated.
Other firefighters used a 31-metre hydraulic platform to begin extinguishing the flames from above before a front-end loader provided by Greater Dandenong Council arrived to demolish a neighbouring carport and allow the CFA to access the rear of the burning property.
“Unfortunately (the demolition) was the least damage we could do, otherwise other properties would have caught on fire,” Mr Owen said.
“That then allowed access for the front-end loader to pull apart the timber stockpiles to help stop the fire from spreading.”
Firefighters contained the fire to the timber stockpiles with no damage to the property’s shed or house.
But the massive task brought a stern warning from firefighters who want residents to avoid a repeat incident.
“The amount of stuff stored here was reasonably neat but the access was an issue,” Mr Owen said.
“If you are storing items in your back yard, make sure you maintain good access into the back yard.”
Mr Owen said local brigades would be “more than happy” to provide advice to property owners.
