By MELISSA MEEHAN
UPDATE: FIRE crews have returned to an old monastery numerous times after putting out a blaze on Tuesday.
Olinda CFA Captain Steve Donner said crews had returned to the monastery three times last night (Wednesday) to put out spot fires.
“Hot spots and spot fires keep reigniting in the heat, it’s been tough one,” he said.
See full story in next weeks paper.
14-1-2014 FIREFIGHTERS were faced with tough conditions as an old monastery caught fire yesterday in Olinda.
Olinda CFA captain Steve Donner said crews were at a reported illegal burnoff when they were called to the blaze in Perrins Creek Road not long before 3pm.
“It was extraordinary conditions,” he said.
“Especially for the volunteers that don’t fight structure fires that often – the structure gear we wear is really hot and heavy.”
Mr Donner said that the heat made fighting the fire difficult.
“We had crews going through their breathing apparatus really quickly, they were going through their tanks in 10 minutes and they were coming out exhausted,” he said.
“So we were running out of volunteers quickly, so had to call on other resources.”
He said crews were able to get the main fire wall under control within 40 minutes, but quickly realised the fire had spread to the roof.
“The walls and roof, being an old monastery building, were made of a different kind of fibre, similar to that of horse hair,” he said.
“So the fire just took hold.”
Crews from Olinda, Kallista, Sassafras, Monbulk, Yellingbo rehab unit, Bayswater BA and Ambulance Victoria were on the scene for more than seven hours.
For the full story see next week’s paper.
