Thirty Years Ago: 1995, The Year of Firsts

Museum of Fire Heritage Team
6 days ago
5 min read

It was 30 years ago that the first K9 entered the services of the NSW Fire Brigade (NSWFB, today Fire and Rescue NSW). Known as Sabre, they made their debut at the Firefighter Championships held in Armidale on 16 September 1995. A pure-breed German Shepherd, Sabre joined the NSWFB aged just 7-months and began training as an accelerant’s detector dog with handler and Rescue/Bushfire Officer Graham McCarthy. Sabre was officially gifted to the NSWFB at the Graduation event held at Victoria Barracks on Friday 13 October 1995. Unfortunately, Sabre would not become a fully-fledged detector dog, so instead was transferred to the care of Firefighter Ian Krimmer to assist with child safety education programming. Despite this stunted start to the NSWFB K9 program, the team would go and develop to become one of the most well-respected K9 units around the world.

The graduation noted above, was not held at the Alexandria College as was customary, due to renovations being undertaken at the site. This meant that the graduation scheduled to be held on 24 November 1995 was also re-located and in this instance was held on the grounds of the Museum of Fire.

Graduation Ceremony, Museum of Fire, 24 November 1995 [Museum of Fire Collection]

Another “first” was unveiled in 1995 for the NSWFB on 13 November 1995 when the Minister for Emergency Services had the honor of launching the first boat for the NSWFB. The 5.3m semi-rigid, inflatable zodiac was launched at Lyne Park Boat Ramp, Rose Bay. Fitted with a sea phone the intended purpose of the boat is to assess the extent of HAZMAT spills, as well as assisting in other maritime responses. The boat was christened by Mrs. Suzanne Gray, the wife of the NSWFB’s Officer in charge of the HAZMAT section.

HAZMAT Boat on Sydney Harbour, c. 1990s [Museum of Fire Collection]

Throughout the year four new stations were opened while re-development’s and renovations were officially opened at an additional two stations.

New Stations Officially Opened in 1995:

· No. 223 Berrigan on 18 March

· No. 220 Bellbird on 8 November (the former station had been destroyed during a windstorm in early 1995).

· No. 377 Minmi on 18 November

· No. 85 Chester Hill on 26 July (the station had become operational in 1994)

Re-developments and Renovations officially re-opened in 1995:

· No. 34 Riverwood on 2 March

· No. 32 Mount Druitt on 1 August

The brigade at No. 43 Toongabbie were re-located on 27 October 1995 to a new station site and at the same time were re-named No. 43 Seven Hills. Though the station became operational the official opening was not held until 11 September 1996.

Two noteworthy incidents from the year occurred in Revesby and Surry Hills:

Chemical Fire in Revesby, 31 March 1995

At 11:13 am on March 31, 1995, a fire was reported at a factory on Violet Street in Revesby. The first arriving firefighters quickly set up pumping operations while avoiding several explosions that caused metal debris to fall onto the road. Once the relay pump was operational, firefighters focused on containing the numerous large fires that were spreading throughout the factory, which stored bitumen tanks, drums of petroleum, and kerosene. One of the early explosions had blown a hole in the wall of an adjacent factory, igniting a fire in a paper storage warehouse. Firefighters managed to contain the fire from the outside before entering and extinguishing it.

Meanwhile, at the chemical fire, firefighters adopted a new strategy of cooling risk areas to allow the main fire to burn itself out. This approach was implemented to prevent contaminated water from flowing into the nearby canal. Through their efforts, firefighters successfully contained and extinguished the fire. The NSW Fire Brigades were supported by the NSW Police, NSW Ambulance, Sydney Water, Workcover, and Pacific Power.

Revesby Inferno, 31 March 1995. A large dump of unexploded fuel drums is cooled from an impinging fire [Museum of Fire Collection]

Surry Hills Antique Shop Fire, 30 August 1995

At 7:27pm on Wednesday 30 August 1995 calls were received of a fire in an antique shop in Surry Hills. The fire had begun on the first floor of the three-level building causing significant damage to the top floor as well as smoke and water damage to the ground floor. Nine brigades were responded to the fire and it took two hours for firefighters with the assistance of two aerials to extinguish the blaze.

It was in September 1995 that Firefighter Kevin Fletcher was awarded the NSWFB’s highest honor, the Conspicuous Bravery Medal for rescuing a member of the public from burning car in Albury while he was off-duty. Fletcher had been sitting in his parked car when he heard a collision and explosion. He ran to the burning car where he found another man trying to release the unconscious driver. Fletcher climbed into the vehicle, which was now well alight with flames filling the cabin, and persevered until he had released the woman’s foot which was entangled in the pedals. He then dragged her to safety using himself to shield her from the flames wearing only a short-sleeved shirt. Fletcher sustained serious burns and was later taken to hospital for treatment. For his actions, Fletcher received the Conspicuous Bravery Medal, the Bravery Medal, and Bronze Medal from the Royal Humane Society.

To read more about Kevin Fletcher please read this blog: https://www.museumoffire.net/single-post/kevin-fletcher-one-of-australia-s-highest-decorated-firefighters

Commissioner Ian MacDougall with Kevin Fletcher when Fletcher was presented with the Bravery Medal, September 1995 [Museum of Fire Collection]

Pamphlet: Smoke Alarms---"Now there's no excuse" by the NSWFB, 1996 [Museum of Fire Collection]

One the last events held by the NSWFB for 1995 was to promote the use of smoke alarms in homes. On 11 December 1995 the NSWFB coordinated a smoke alarm summit that was convened by the Emergency Services Minister in an effort to increase public education about having a working smoke alarm in your home. From 1 July 1994 the installation of smoke alarms in new domestic dwellings had been made a legal requirement however the majority of existing homes continued to not have a working smoke alarm, with just 21 of homes reported as having a working smoke alarm in October 1994. For the reporting financial year 1994-1995, just 5% of house fires attended by the NSWFB were to dwellings with a working smoke alarm. The summit came on the back of a series of 12 tragic deaths in house fires within one month. The result of this summit would be the 1996 Winter smoke alarm television campaign.

-Story by the Museum of Fire Heritage Team