St Brendan's fire destroys principal's home

Melinda Siegmeier | 7th December 2008

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LARGE FIRE: Firefighters worked into the night yesterday to put out a fierce fire that engulfed the St Brendan’s College’s oldest building and the homes of four staff.

IT was a heartbreaking scene at St Brendan's College yesterday as four families, including school principal Simon Dash, watched the school's oldest building, and their homes burn to the ground.

Flames blazed from the roof, windows exploded and parts of the building collapsed.

The Hogan building, which was built in 1940, was completely engulfed by the fire not long after it started at 11am.

Sixteen Fire and Rescue crews, comprising 45 firefighters, battled the large fire into the night desperate to save the building's chapel.

Mr Dash, exhausted and upset while comforting his son Jacob, said they found the fire blazing in the old boardroom yesterday by accident.

He said he had just come home from church with his wife and four children and was on his way up to his residence inside the building.

“You have to go past the door of the old boardroom to get to our residence,” he said.

“We have no air-conditioning in our residence and the kids were joking about sitting in the board room because it was so hot.

“My son Jacob happened to open the door as a joke and we realised there was a fire.”

Mr Dash said he sent his family outside and raced upstairs to find a fire extinguisher.

He ripped the pin out and stood at the door as flames blazed towards him and sprayed until the extinguisher was empty.

“It still wasn't out. I'd already told Jacob to call Triple 0,” he said.

“I ran outside, dropped the extinguisher and went back up to ensure everyone was evacuated.

“Everyone went back outside and at that stage I could see the windows popping out.”

Mr Dash and three other staff members and their families lost everything in the fire.

The Yeppoon boarding school building on Adelaide Park Road was extensively damaged, but Fire and Rescue crews were able to save the chapel, which had only smoke damage.

A Fire and Rescue spokesman said crews were made up of nine rural and seven urban teams.

It was unknown late yesterday how the fire started or whether there were suspicious circumstances.

At 5pm yesterday the 16 crews were still battling the fire, which was well alight.

Crews were required to monitor the building all night in case it reignited.

The Airport Fire Service is also assisting at the scene.

No one is injured and paramedics were on standby.

The large, T-shaped building is a residential quarters and storage facility.

The families were at the school at the time of the fire, but everyone has been accounted for.

The school year ended at St Brendan's on November 27.

Police said they would start investigations today as it was too dangerous for them to enter the building yesterday.

Police said yesterday the building was still too hot and its structural integrity remained unknown.

Mr Dash said he wanted to thank the emergency services for their professionalism and the incredible generosity of the Yeppoon community.