A man has been taken to hospital after a terrifying fire at a caravan park in Gerroa on the New South Wales south coast. Firefighters rushed to the site this morning after receiving reports of a number of caravans alight at Seven Mile Holiday Park at 8.40am.
NSW Rural Fire Service crews arrived on scene to find one caravan completely engulfed with fire and a number of surrounding caravans alight. It took firefighters 15 minutes to control the blaze.
A man was taken to hospital with injuries to his hands; no one was inside the other caravans.
Fire investigators and police are looking into the cause of the fire.
While today’s blaze appears to have affected permanent caravans, fire is one of the biggest fears of grey nomads who, by necessity, commonly park up in close quarters to each other. Sadly, the threat of a fire in a caravan park is a real one. In September last year, 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.
I feel for the owners of the vans and mobile homes and for the families of those whose lives are lost in these fires. I am also concerned as to the origin of the fires and the potential for loss of lives and property. I am worried about having gas bottles on board for stove and hot water for the very reason of causing a fire. We are in the process of putting our bus together and are undecided as whether we install gas or to use solely solar. If anyone has an educated opinion or advice on this, please feel free to let me know. Thank you.
Try gas heating and hot water. Gas bottles still are used and if inspected, are no problem. Use 240 volt when in a park. There are very few problems in caravanß and the example is of prmanents who generally have old stuff. New caravans use good exipment. Have agreattime.
Gas is perfectly safe if it is installed by a licensed gasfitter and it just needs to be checked regularly.
Caravan park owners should not be placing caravans as close as they do these days for obvious reasons especially because of fire risks.
i have had gas hot water and stove for 8 years trouble free ,gas has not been turned off most of the time. biggest mistake was not getting duel gas and electric hot water service.
I stayed at a “Van Park” on the Gold Coast. There were hardly any transit vans or sites there, mostly permanent sites. I was jammed between two very old permanent vans with flimsy fibro and weather board structures attached. There was so little room my spares at the rear were touching a dwelling. There were old elaetrical leads running everywhere and hanging loose with shonky outlets. No fire hydrants or extinguishers anywhere. I envisaged a disaster pending at this location and left soon as I could next morning.
Diesel heating is ideal and if fitted correctly, gas/240 suburban hot water is excellent. If checked regularly by a pro, caravans should be safe.