THE HISTORIC VICTORY HOTEL, A NIGHTCLUB in Brisbane, Australia suffered a total loss early Saturday morning when a fire took hold while the club was packed with patrons.
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All photos by Matt Hayes / Firecall
The fire started in the basement of the two-story building and grew fairly rapidly as the club security staff evacuated the customers. There were dance floors on both levels and the entire pub was occupied.
One of the patrons was a young lady named Sherree who gave this eyewitness account of the event beginning around 2:30 am:
The room suddenly filled with smoke and the alarms sounded. “The DJ turned off the music and said ‘there’s a fire, everyone to the exits’,” Sherree said. “A lot of people didn’t move. They just kind of froze but then the security guards started directing people and guiding us out,” she said. “The people on the stairs behind us were panicking but some of the ones in front we’re saying ‘isn’t this cool’.”
As the people poured out onto the street, many of them began passing out from the panic and from breathing the smoke. Compounding the situation, everybody in another nightclub across the street came running out to watch and the street scene became chaotic.
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As the fire companies arrived, the streets were so congested that at first they could not get to the fire building and begin operations. The Brisbane Times tells us:
Queensland Fire and Rescue Senior Operations Coordinator Bevan Moore said fire crews were confronted by “complete and utter chaos”, as they arrived at the scene.
“Initially our trucks couldn’t even get to the premises because the crowd was so thick on the ground,” Mr Moore said. “There were bodies lying on the ground and footpaths…hundreds more crowded the streets who had evacuated the building. Thick, black smoke billowed from the premises as crew arrived.
“It was absolutely the worst possible time for such an incident to occur,” Mr Moore said. “Can you imagine hundreds of people, intoxicated, under the influence of alcohol and a building ablaze?”
The fire burned through the first and second floors and then through the roof. Only the outer walls are remaining from the fire that was extinguished by 4:30 am. However, a rekindle at 6 am has kept fire crews on the scene for the remainder of the morning.
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