A woman has died in a caravan fire at a residential caravan park on the NSW Central Coast.
Firefighters were called to Homeland Caravan Park in Wadalba last night to find a fire already well underway.
The body of a woman in her 50s was later located inside the caravan.
A man in his 50s, was outside the caravan with minor burns on his hands. He was treated for smoke inhalation before being taken to Gosford Hospital for further treatment.
While this is not a caravan park that takes in casual travellers such as grey nomads, the incident does serve as a tragic reminder of just how dangerous fires in and around caravans can be.
“I thought someone was up the back shooting,” one neighbour told the Daily Telegraph. “By the time I came outside it was already gone, there were flames as high as that tree.”
The neighbour’s rented caravan sustained significant damage in the blaze and was ‘condemned’.
Investigations into the cause of the fire are underway. They a ‘possible accident involving LPG cylinders’ could have sparked the horrific blaze.
NSW Fire & Rescue Acting Inspector Mark Delves said there were a number of LPG cylinders on the site, which he described as normal for a caravan, with several ‘venting’ gas and fuelling the fire’s intensity.
Acting Insp Delves said the cause was still under investigation but it appeared it could have been “possibly an accident involving LPG cylinders”.
There have been a lot of terrifying caravan fires over the years, including one incident back in 2019 which saw 18 caravans destroyed.
Very sad.
Ive seen some semi permanent Van/shacks in many Caravan parks that need a lot of attention. Power leads going everywhere, overloaded multi boards, adapters out in the weather. No fire hoses or extinguishers anywhere..hazards galore to the eye, let alone what you can’t see.
I never park anywhere near them.
I to have seen sites like described above and are that close to other vans that if one was to catch fire more than one would burn. The managers/owners seem to turn a blind eye, maybe yearly rent has something to do with it
I would look at planing laws first ,they allow them to build this close , I know the park well and it was designed this way with the shower block for 4 vans side by side and back to back about 5mt square just enough room to walk between the annex’s also seen some where you have to turn side ways to move between them
I have just replaced 4 (not including the prior ones) where they have removed the battery from ones where they are not supposed to be able to be removed, in cabins, because they are too lazy to walk outside to smoke.