Mia Armitage and Echo staff
The historic Byron Bay rail master’s cottage was all but destroyed in a fire over the weekend, with the cause still unknown.
Firefighters were on-scene at 88 Jonson Street around 10.30pm Friday, with crews working past midnight into the early hours of Saturday to get the flames under control.
Crews were back on-scene around 6.30am Saturday when a member of the public called emergency services to report smoke coming from the site.
Acting Byron Bay Fire and Rescue NSW Captain Perry Bartholomew said it was ‘not unusual’ for residual heat to create smoke after a fire but that there were ‘not even really any flames’ to manage on Saturday morning.
The old timber cottage was ‘pretty much a total loss,’ he told The Echo on Monday.
Just four walls left of historic cottage
Acting Captain Bartholomew said he was ‘very happy’ with the way crews performed fighting the fire.
‘We regained control fairly quickly,’ he said, adding that the fire was extinguished in two and a half hours.
It was too dangerous for firefighters to enter the old building, which was ‘totally engulfed’ in flames when they arrived, the acting captain said, necessitating an external-only battle against the flames.
The roof collapsed and all that was left were four walls.
Workers from Fire and Rescue NSW stations in Bangalow, Brunswick Heads and Goonellabah helped the brigade in Byron Bay alongside volunteers from the Mullumbimby Rural Fire Service.
Knowing the old building could not be saved, crews focused on protecting an empty commercial building on the fire’s eastern side.
Byron bystanders watch ‘abandoned’ building burn
It’s understood nobody was inside either building at the time of the fire although locals on social media later described the old timber rail master’s cottage as a well-known ‘squat’.
The historic building near the old Woolies carpark and disused train line had been fenced off from the main street with The Echo recently walking past and noting its apparent derelict condition.
Acting Captain Bartholomew said he understood the property had been ‘abandoned for several years’.
There was plenty of active public interest in the fire on Byron’s main street, the acting captain said.
Firefighters had to take the bystanders into account while trying to work and Acting Captain Bartholomew said it was important for the public to ‘respect the fact’ that a fire is dangerous situation and to ‘give firefighters enough time to do their duties’.
Get free legally required smoke detectors for your home
The acting captain used the opportunity of speaking to media to reiterate the importance of smoke alarms, which are legally required in every residential abode in NSW.
Smoke detectors provided ‘that early warning that there is smoke in the building’, Acting Captain Bartholomew said, and could make the difference between a small and large fire as well life and death for inhabitants of a building on fire.
The state’s Fire and Rescue service provided a free smoke detector inspection service to homes and was also available to install smoke detectors for free, depending on electrical requirements.
Contrary to popular assumption, the weekend’s rain was of no comfort to crews working on the fire in Byron Bay.
‘The rain would have to be really heavy to help,’ Acting Captain Bartholomew said.
‘Keep looking while cooking,’ was one of the firefighters’ slogans, he said, given many house fires started in the kitchen.
Rain could even be a trigger for a housefire, he said, with the possibility of water getting in and causing electrical fires.
Another potentially deadly scenario could unfold when people placed clothing too close to a heater.
Police attended the scene of the fire after the arrival of firefighters and later said they were investigating the cause but that there were no injuries.
EARLIER: The house at 88 Jonson Street went up in flames late Friday night and lasted into the early hours of Saturday morning, with fire crews on the scene working to contain the blaze.
Images posted on social media showed firefighters trying to contain the fire as it threatened nearby properties.
The Echo understands the home is listed as a heritage item under Byron Shire records.
More to come.
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