Tragic tales emerge from the ashes at Wickham woolshed fire

As the flames settled at the Wickham woolshed fire, the heartbreaking stories of Novocastrians impacted by the blaze began to emerge from the ashes. 

At the height of the March 1 blaze, 100 Fire and Rescue NSW (FRNSW) crew members and 30 trucks attended the scene.

The former woolsheds are now being used as a self-storage business, with commercial office spaces and studios within.

“Sometime after 2.30 pm firefighters entered the building and launched an internal fire attack to attempt to bring the fire under control, however, due to the enormous fuel load in the building, the fire spread rapidly, forcing the crews back due to the intense heat and flames,” a FRNSW statement read.

“Crews then launched an external attack on the fire in an attempt to prevent the fire from spreading to adjoining buildings, as well as a nearby Ampol fuel reserve containing more than 8 million litres of diesel and unleaded fuel.”

While residents in neighbouring suburbs reported debris falling from the sky, power was cut to the storage facility as well as 1,200 nearby homes and businesses.

The fire was escalated to a ‘10th alarm’, the most severe type of fire, and took four hours to bring under control.

Later that evening, residents from more than 50 homes and 200 units along Annie Street, Milford Street, The Avenue and part of Robert Street were evacuated to the Goodlife Church on Albert Street in Wickham.  

While the two large adjoining brick warehouses perished in the blaze, firefighting crews were able to save the third remaining warehouse and battled hard to prevent the fire from spreading to neighbouring properties. 

Owner of Two Frida’s vintage store, Kate Warner, said her office space was among the fire’s victims.

Warner was in Maitland when the first alarms sounded and immediately drove back to Wickham, arriving just in time to see the flames engulf the middle woodshed where her store resided.

It housed over 1,000 vintage pieces from the 60s through to the 90s, as well as materials and equipment that she had acquired over her 20 years collecting.

Warner shared her heartbreaking story on social media and said that, inside, nothing survived the intensity of the fire.

“People were running their livelihoods and businesses out of those two buildings,” Warner said.

“I think a lot of people thought they were abandoned, but those two buildings were thriving hubs of activity and my heart goes out to people who lost so much in the fire.”

Warner told NovoNews that she had already calculated the cost of the blaze, and said that if she was to go out and start again, it would cost about $40,000 dollars.

“I didn’t lose my livelihood and I’m grateful for that, but what I did lose was my passion, my happy place and my safe place, and my space to express my creativity which is really important for my mental health and wellbeing,” Warner said.

Zara’s House, a local refugee charity, was also among the occupants that lost everything in the fire.

As a secondary space that stored donated goods from the community, the storage facility had nonetheless been instrumental to their operations.

Sister Santleben said when Zara’s House approached Wickham Self Storage for assistance, they had generously complied, and the charity had been using the premise for 14 years, completely free of charge. 

“Since then, we’ve worked out that they have donated about $70,000 worth of storage space to us,” Sister Santleben said.

“We’re devastated on management’s behalf – we’ve just loss stuff, whereas they’ve lost their business and these are some of the most generous people in Newcastle.”

Sister Santleben also mourned an iconic piece of Hunter history, lost to the flame.

The former woolsheds were an iconic feature in the Wickham landscape for more than 80 years, and in more recent times, Sister Santleben said occupants had forged a real community at the site.

“A gentleman called Ray, who owned a furniture business, would sometimes sell stuff for our organisation, free of charge, and give us the money … it was a real community down there,” she said.

While occupants have only just begun picking up the pieces of their lost businesses, authorities warned that persisting fires and risk of structural collapse meant the operation on the ground was still ongoing. 

“We have a number of aerial trucks working to extinguish relenting fires, which will take some time due to the difficult access in place due to structural integrity of the building,” an FRNSW spokesperson said.

As no internal supports remain in place, FRNSW held grave concerns for the building’s risk of complete collapse. 

“All that remains are external brick walls of buildings that are about four levels high and they are at significant risk of collapse … it is a situation we are monitoring.”

FRNSW and the NSW Environment Protection Authority (EPA) are also investigating reports of asbestos contamination in neighbouring areas.

“The roof of the building appears to have been made of Super Six sheeting which contains asbestos … however, recent rain has mitigated the risk of asbestos exposure, making it very low,” the FRNSW spokesperson assured.

A spokesperson from EPA explained that the wet weather had reduced the asbestos risk to the community.

“Air monitors have been deployed in the vicinity of Wickham following the fire to help ease community concerns about asbestos air pollution, and we have a specialist asbestos assessor working with us in the area.

“The community should be cautious and stay away from any suspected asbestos material. Community members can contact the EPA’s Environment Line on 131 555 to report any suspected asbestos they see.”

In the coming days, FRNSW will be working with the EPA, City of Newcastle and structural engineers to ensure the structural integrity of the building, as well as continue the cleanup efforts. 

During a public meeting on March 2, authorities revealed that demolition of the buildings may soon start and that some residents may not be able to return to their neighbouring homes for up to a month.

A police strike force has also been established to investigate the cause of the blaze. 

Maia O’Connor