Another Northern Rivers home burnt down: 4 in 3 weeks
UP IN SMOKE: The gutted remains of a house fire on Quilty Road, Rock Valley in the early hours of Sunday morning. MIREILLE MERLET-SHAW
by Tyson Yates
TWO Northern Rivers homes have been destroyed by fire over the weekend, making a total of four properties lost in just over two weeks.
The latest incident took place in the early hours of Sunday morning when emergency services were called to a rural property on Quilty Rd, Rock Valley, just after 1am.
According to Inspector Boyd Townsend, of Rural Fire Service Northern Rivers, it took about 14 firefighters more than four hours to extinguish the blaze and control the area.
"When the brigades arrived the house was fully engulfed by the fire," he said.
"The house was fully destroyed."
According to neighbours, the owners of the home were away at the time, which meant no one was harmed. However, firefighters did have to take extra caution due to the possible presence of asbestos.
"There is believed to be asbestos in the building so they did need to take it cautiously and take the right precautions; it just takes time," Insp Townsend said.
This follows the destruction of an Ocean Shores brick and tile home, which was devastated by fire on Friday night.
About 10.45pm, police arrived on the scene to find the four occupants of the home had evacuated safely while 27 firefighters set about battling the blaze.
The flames were brought under control at midnight and all emergency services left the scene by 1.15am.
An exclusion zone was set up around the property due to unstable walls at risk of collapse.
Police investigations are continuing, but neither incident is being treated as suspicious. They come within weeks of two multi-million dollar Byron Bay properties being destroyed by flames.
July 21 - Emergency services were called to a three-storey, multi-million dollar guesthouse, called The Spirit of Bali, at 2.46pm on Tuesday.
Neighbours and the owner of the property were forced to look on in horror as the 115-year-old home was engulfed by flames in a matter of minutes with witnesses describing how the fire climbed each of the three storeys.
August 6 - A woman in her 60s was rescued by Byron Bay garbage man, 31-year-old Chris Hadwell after the Kingsley Lane house she was occupying went up in flames.
August 7 - An Ocean Shores brick and tile home was completely destroyed by fire last Friday. Four occupants escaped unharmed before 27 firefighters battled the blaze into the early hours of the morning.
August 9 - A Rock Valley home was fully destroyed by fire with emergency services working to contain the site from just after 1am until 5.30am. The owners of the medium-sized property were away at the time and no one was injured, however it is believed the house contains asbestos and the remains are being treated with caution.
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