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Post by skyhawkdon on Dec 1, 2007 8:39:28 GMT 12
I thought this was better as a new thread so here are my photos from Dec 85. I was attached to WB for CET Adventure Training. I was given a room in BB6 and was woken early in the morning by someone banging on the door yelling "get out - fire!" (I don't remember if the barrack fire alarm was going but it probably was). I opened the door to be greeted by lots of smoke so I didn't muck around. The base fire siren was going and it took what seemed like forever for the fire engines to arrive. I distinctly remember hearing the fire engine coming all the way from the fire station - its engine revving very high as the wooden heads realised this was no false alarm! One of the appliances was an old Bedford RL which has a petrol engine and it was coughing and spluttering as they tried to make it go faster! This first fire was set in the baggage room of BB6 and damage was limited to the baggage room and surrounding area. Fortunately the fire was detected quickly.   After that I was moved to another barrack block and was awoken early the next morning (it was just getting light) to the base fire siren going again (it felt like a dream!). On looking out the window one whole half of BB7 was on fire. The arsonist had spread accelerant right through the corridor so the whole thing was on fire. Most occupants had to jump out their windows to escape. Again I distinctly remember hearing the old Bedford RL roaring its way from the fire station, but clearly this time the situation was much more serious. It was obvious the fire was beyond the capability of the small base brigade and soon we could hear the Renwick siren going. Appliances from Blenheim also arrived. Many base personnel manned hoses and helped in any way they could. The occupants in the opposite wings started emptying out their rooms as the fire started up the corridor past the toilets and showers. I remember one guy throwing all his course notes back into his room with the comment - they can burn!   I don't think they ever caught the prick who did it? From then on there were "fire picket" patrols around the base. I think it became a base duty. |
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Post by Dave Homewood on Dec 2, 2007 12:35:14 GMT 12
Wow, that's so awful to see, and it must have been quite terrifying for those whose rooms went up in smoke. Sickening. I hope the culprit got his come-upance, one way or another. I can't imagine why anyone would jeopardise all those lives like that.
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Post by phil82 on Dec 2, 2007 15:32:53 GMT 12
Wow, that's so awful to see, and it must have been quite terrifying for those whose rooms went up in smoke. Sickening. I hope the culprit got his come-upance, one way or another. I can't imagine why anyone would jeopardise all those lives like that. Why do they do it? There's been a lot of research done into arsonists, and the fairly predicatable psychological profile usually reveals attention seekers or out and out nutters! These people have no concerns about others; it just doesn't enter their heads. FlyNavy will recall a catastrophic arson in a Hangar at Nowra, which involved a guy disabling the sprinkler system and releasing fuel from a number of Grumman Trackers before igniting it! I had some small involvement after the event! I worked with a guy who subsequently did five years after a court martial sentenced him. He lit a number of fires, then joined in the crews fighting them, until eventually he lit one in a barrack block roof space. He had gone up there with a can of petrol, which failed to ignite properly, but had it done so those people getting him out,including me, because he was badly burned himself, would have been toast! At no time did we suspect him, and it was only afterwards we realised he had a disregard for his own safety. Name of Roger Moore in fact, but he was no 007! |
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Post by FlyNavy on Dec 2, 2007 16:57:33 GMT 12
Phil82; I think the Nowra Hangar fire has been mentioned in earlier posts. To my vague knowledge 3rd hand it was found that the arsonist sailor had major lesions in his brain which caused his death not long afterwards in the home custody of his policeman father, the convicted sailor having been released into his custody so as to die at home. Very sad all round.
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Post by phil82 on Dec 2, 2007 18:42:22 GMT 12
Phil82; I think the Nowra Hangar fire has been mentioned in earlier posts. To my vague knowledge 3rd hand it was found that the arsonist sailor had major lesions in his brain which caused his death not long afterwards in the home custody of his policeman father, the convicted sailor having been released into his custody so as to die at home. Very sad all round. Yes, I know, I was here, but some people reading this weren't. ;D |
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Post by Dave Homewood on Dec 3, 2007 12:12:57 GMT 12
I hadn't heard of that Nowra fire. Amazing! What a waste.
It takes all sorts. That was one good thing about being in the RNZAF, the percentage of out and out nutters in your midst was a lot less than in your civilian neighbourhood. But sadly a few did still slip into the services. Like that Ohakea provo who tortured and abused the ATC children!
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Post by flyjoe180 on Dec 3, 2007 19:17:00 GMT 12
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Post by FlyNavy on Dec 7, 2007 23:23:39 GMT 12
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Post by phil82 on Dec 8, 2007 11:19:08 GMT 12
An interesting review, thank you. In regard to 'Tracy", one of the first aircraft into Darwin was an RNZAF Herc which happened to be in, I think, Perth at the time and was immediately offered to the RAAF as an additional taskable flight. I visited Nowra in 1976, and the Hangar site had been cleared, but the Trackers saved were parked acroos the road, some with fire damage. That flight from Sydney to Nowra, incidentally, was in an RNZAF Andover, and we got caught on the edge of a thunderstorm which caused the pilot to slow down, gear down flaps down etc! If you've ever wondered about how strong an Andover was, I can tell you when you see the wings flex in mid-air you have occasion to be grateful to the designers!
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Post by shorty on Jun 9, 2008 22:53:28 GMT 12
I was in the barracks at Woodbourne in 1968 on my Mechs course when they were torched, the same guy also did the WAAF barracks just beforehand. We were moved into one of the classrooms in Brat School for the rest of our course. They got the guy who did it. No names,no pack drill.
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Post by Dave Homewood on Sept 29, 2021 11:50:09 GMT 12
Two shots of the 1968 barracks fire have gone onto the Air Force Museum's FotoWeb site today.  LINK LINK |
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Post by davidd on Sept 29, 2021 13:01:24 GMT 12
Just checked out flyjoe 180's post of the enormous air base fire in South Vietnam, May 1965 (2007 post). Despite the extremely poor quality of the film, it seems apparent that the Skyraider aircraft shown being taxied about (or destroyed) were units of the South Vietnam AF (by their strange coloured insignia). I presume by the very widespread damage and destruction that this was not an accident, maybe a Viet Cong attack?
David D
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Post by Dave Homewood on Nov 13, 2021 17:17:34 GMT 12
SOP360-89 LINK Copy negative showing a fire in a barrack block at RNZAF Base Woodbourne. The date is probably the date of duplication, rather than the date of the fire.  SOP359-89 LINKCopy negative showing a fire in a barrack block at RNZAF Base Woodbourne. The date is probably the date of duplication, rather than the date of the fire.  SOP358-89 LINK Copy negative showing a fire in a barrack block at RNZAF Base Woodbourne. The date is probably the date of duplication, rather than the date of the fire.  SOP361-89 LINK Copy negative showing the aftermath of a fire in a barrack block at RNZAF Base Woodbourne. The date is probably the date of duplication, rather than the date of the fire. 
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Post by skyhawkdon on Nov 14, 2021 9:47:01 GMT 12
They look like the 1985 fire. Just as I remember it!
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Post by Dave Homewood on Nov 14, 2021 9:56:30 GMT 12
Oh I was thinking those shots were from the 1985 fire, but I see that they are dated December 1989. I did not know there was yet another fire there in 1989.
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Post by Deane B on Nov 15, 2021 20:41:35 GMT 12
Oh I was thinking those shots were from the 1985 fire, but I see that they are dated December 1989. I did not know there was yet another fire there in 1989. I was on R1/86 Recruit course and after that moved into one of the blocks repaired after the 85 fire. At the time the corridor between the wings had yet to be repainted and still had soot from the fire. Bonus was we had newly decorated rooms and carpet, when most the other blocks were still lino  I remember being aware of the potential of fire when we lived in the barracks, but it was believed the threat of arson was low. It also explained why we had so many fire drills on recruit course! In 1989 I was on Tech course and then posted to Auckland July 89. There were certainly no more fires I can recall that year, so I think the photo dates are misleading. The photos look just like ones I had seen from the 85 fires. I knew quite a few guys that were in the 85 fires. Some lost all they had, others were luckier. As Don said in his initial post, most had to jump out their windows to safety as the hallway was fully engulfed. There was a third fire, a rubbish bin was found in a hallway set alight, but was extinguished before any damage caused. Luckily after that there were no more incidents. |
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Post by Dave Homewood on Dec 2, 2022 10:17:43 GMT 12
Here is another barracks fire, this one at Wigram, and the photo is dated 01/07/1960. Air Force Museum of New Zealand Photo WgG10190-60 LINK |
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Post by Dave Homewood on Sept 27, 2023 0:48:35 GMT 12
Supreme Court
Three Years Gaol For Arson At Woodbourne
An airman, whose fires, caused $50,000 worth of damage to the Royal New Zealand Air Force station, Woodbourne, Blenheim, on May 11, was sentenced to three years imprisonment for arson by Mr Justice Macarthur in the Supreme Court yesterday. Andrew Charles Teatua Debar, aged 29 (Mr R. E. Avery), had been convicted of three charges of arson.
His Honour said the fires caused considerable damage to the No. 11 barracks, lesser damage to other barracks, and considerable loss of personal possessions belonging to servicemen and women. The fires were lit at a time when some men were in their beds in one of the barracks.
A psychiatric report showed evidence of a personality disorder, said his Honour. But it was domestic strife and an excessive consumption of alcohol that appeared to have led to the offences.
Mr Avery submitted that Dehar’s diminished responsibility because of his personality defects should be regarded as a mitigating factor. He said Dehar did not know the dramatic and unusual effect that drinking would have on him. Mr Avery said that Dehar was a well-liked, happy-go-lucky fellow, and that his fellow-servicemen had expressed a great deal of amazement that he should be the one who had lit the fires.
PRESS, 20 DECEMBER 1968
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I remember being aware of the potential of fire when we lived in the barracks, but it was believed the threat of arson was low. It also explained why we had so many fire drills on recruit course! In 1989 I was on Tech course and then posted to Auckland July 89. There were certainly no more fires I can recall that year, so I think the photo dates are misleading. The photos look just like ones I had seen from the 85 fires.