Quick-thinking tourists have helped to save a Sunshine Coast caravan park from a potentially disastrous blaze.
The Sunshine Coast Daily reports that a fire started inside an unoccupied caravan at the Alex Beach Cabins and Tourist Park in Alexandra Headland.
Neil and Sue Austin were staying at the park when they noticed the flames and smoke coming from the van next door.
“I grabbed my phone and ran towards the front desk to tell the owner, calling triple zero on the way,” Mr Austin told the newspaper. “The owner and I then used garden hoses to try and put the fire out, but at that stage the whole thing looked like it was going to collapse. That’s when we turned the hoses on the other caravans, including my own, and tried to dampen everything down so it wouldn’t catch fire.”
The Sunshine Coast Daily reports that embers from the fire floated onto rooftops as Mr Austin used the garden hose to douse flames which threatened to engulf his caravan. Other holidaymakers then joined in the battle to stop the flames spreading.
“People were just coming from everywhere with hoses and water to try and help,” Mr Austin said. “We were really worried that there might be gas bottles at the front of the van, which could explode from the heat.
Park owner Lez Woodbury said the fire could have been a lot worse.
“It was well alight and made quite a mess,” Mr Woodbury told the Sunshine Coast Daily. “The neighbours did a good job protecting their caravans and we were pretty lucky it didn’t spread any further.”
The elderly owners of the burnt-out caravan were believed to be out to dinner when the fire started.
Fire experts are now investigating the cause of the blaze.
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