FIRE AT THE ENTRANCE

One of the first places we visited on the Central Coast was The Entrance, this is one my daughter's favourite places. One of the main attractions here is the pelican feeding which takes place every afternoon. We had a walk around the children's pool area and got ourselves ice-creams and smoothies, they were delicious. We carried on our walk and as we did noticed a fire shooting out the side of a house. At first I thought this was garden rubbish that was being burned. I then saw, who I presumed to be the occupants of the house, running around, shouting and moving a car that was parked close to the house. An ambulance drove past us and I saw one of the crew was on the radio and she was reporting the fire.

We watched as the fire quickly caught hold of the house and people were running around shouting to see if there was anyone in the house. The roof of the house started popping and explosions could be heard inside, so everyone had to move back to safety. Still the fire service had not arrived and we wondered how long it was going to take them. By now the fire was spreading into a nearby palm tree and I asked if there were any occupants in the apartments that were at the side. I was told that they were empty.

A man, who was walking by, told us that we should move as the roof probably contained asbestos. As soon as that was mentioned we moved quickly away, my dear dad died of asbestosis only 3 years ago, so I know the dangers of this awful substance.

We moved further along the street and when I looked back I could see that the fire engine had arrived and the police. The plume of thick black smoke was going high into the sky along with debris from the house.

It certainly wasn't what we expected to see on our visit here. I felt so sorry for the occupants losing everything like that. We heard a report on the radio later about the fire and it appeared that no-one had been injured which was a blessing.