Fire investigators are investigating the cause of a large blaze at a caravan park on the Gold Coast this afternoon.
A caravan and a separate demountable erupted into flames at the Nerang Caravan Park, sending plumes of thick black smoke billowing over the suburb.
A Queensland Fire and Emergency Service spokesperson said both structures were ‘well involved’ when they arrived.
Two teams wearing breathing apparatus tackled the blaze, and sought to prevent its spreading to other nearby dwellings. The blaze has since been extinguished.
Five people were assessed at the scene by paramedics for smoke inhalation but fortunately did not need to be taken to hospital.
Fire investigators will be heading back to the park tomorrow morning.
While the Nerang Caravan Park caters largely to permanent residents, the news of another caravan park fire will certainly make many grey nomads stop and think.
With caravans and motorhomes commonly having to park up in close quarters to each other in van parks, the thought of a blaze sweeping through is understandably a worrying one for many travellers.
Last year, there was a fire at a caravan park at Cobram in Victoria.
Back in 2019, 18 caravans were destroyed when flames swept from van to van at the Goughs Bay Caravan Park near Lake Eildon in Victoria.
In 2107, a man was taken to hospital after a fire at a caravan park in Gerroa on the New South Wales south coast.
In September 2016, two people were taken to hospital suffering from smoke inhalation after a blaze at a caravan park in Grafton, New South Wales.
And earlier that year, a 63-year-old woman died when fire tore through her caravan at the Price Caravan Park on South Australia’s Yorke Peninsula.
And at the end of 2015, two caravan fires within days of each other brought the deadly dangers into the spotlight.
This is exactly why caravan park design rules must change in Australia. When I caravanned throughout the UK for 9 months I learned about the devastating fires that killed people in caravan parks before some law changes about separation of sites. The UK Caravan Clubs demand 6m separation between sites. This is why we do not like sardine style caravan parks in Australia and head for the freecamps or often better spaced unpowered sections of caravan parks, one night when you least expect it… fire.
I saw seven caravans in a row totally destroyed within ten minutes in a caravan parks storage area
on the NSW south coast back in the 80’s, the fire engines and police got there within 15 minutes and could do nothing but douse the ashes.
The scariest part was seeing the gas bottles blowing off not exploding but sending an enormous jet of flaming gas like a giant blow torch straight up in to the air one after the other, our van was parked about 30 meters away and the heat from the fire was so intense it shrank and bubbled the anti glare film on our front windows.
Insurance Investigations concluded the fire started in a van that was used by a person that made a living in summer going along the beach selling sun screen lotion he kept a huge bulk supply in his van that had leaked on to the seat cushions and reacted with the rubber foam and cloth the cushions were made of, also it was the first van seen to start to burn.
Oils (“sun screen lotion”) and cotton will self combust if the ambient conditions are right exasperated in a closed up van, Polyester and nylon have mostly replaced cotton these days but they have their own equally hazardous attributes so far as combustion goes.
What gets me is after seeing these gas bottles blow off on fire, caravans now store gas bottles in lockers and under fibreglass covers on the draw bars, gas bottles are designed to blow off straight up in to the air, and are now contained in side vented lockers and under covers?????? If you have ever seen a gas bottle blow off on fire you would question the wisdom of the caravan manufacturers and the certifying authorities.