Fire - Australia

GLIDE CODE: FR-2006-08-31-7415-AUS
Date & Time: 2006-08-31 05:34:11 [UTC]
Area: Australia Victoria State, , Melbourne ( MAP)

Description:

About 600 people were evacuated from a high-rise apartment block in inner-city Melbourne when a burning couch filled the building with smoke. Metropolitan Fire Brigade (MFB) crews were called to the Office of Housing flats in Neill Street, Carlton, just before 4am (AEST) today to find a discarded couch on fire on a first-floor landing. MFB Assistant Chief Fire Officer Peter Quinsee said it took firefighters quite some time to evacuate residents from the 18-storey building. "The decision was then taken to evacuate the floors above because of the heavy smoke-logging, and that process took quite some time to get probably some 600 people out of the building until it was all clear to return," he told Southern Cross Radio today. A Metropolitan Ambulance spokesman said five people were taken to hospital, two with smoke inhalation and the others with minor medical conditions associated with the evacuation. Forty firefighters took almost an hour to control the blaze, which dama! ged parts of the first floor. MFB fire investigators will examine the cause of the fire today.

Damage level: Moderate