Fire at Malvern, Australia
Report on the February 16th fire at Malvern which destroyed the house, but all residents were safe.
''Aged residents lucky to escape Malvern home blaze - February 16, 2009''
Several aged care residents have been lucky to escape a fire that gutted an aged care home in Melbourne's south-eastern suburbs. An electrical failure has been blamed for causing the $2million damage. A local restaurateur helped firefighters evacuate the elderly residents of Abbeyfield House in Stanhope Street, Malvern, when the fire broke out shortly after 6am. A 79-year-old man who was burned on the face and chest was treated by paramedics and taken to The Alfred hospital. A 74-year-old man was also sent to The Alfred after being treated for smoke inhalation. Up to 50 firefighters were called to contain the blaze, which is believed to have been caused by an electrical failure. Paramedics assessed and reassured the residents, and several were later picked up by family and friends. Metropolitan Fire Brigade commander Dave Miller praised the efforts of the firefighters. "It could have been a very different scenario. The quick fire attack by the firefighters assisted in making sure there was no loss of life," he said.
Chris Reside’s Report...
The fire is believed to have started in a resident’s room, possibly caused by a faulty electric lamp. (The fire was not related to the current Victorian bush fires.) At the time of the fire (approx 6.00am, Monday16 February 2009), there were nine residents plus one interstate guest from the ACT. Thankfully all ten occupants were safely evacuated (with the assistance of a neighbouring coffee shop owner). Two residents required hospitalisation for minor burns and other issues, though both have now been discharged.
The housekeeper, Joanne MacLaren, was not on site when the fire started (week-end off), though arrived immediately upon the alarm being raised. Joanne performed brilliantly under significant pressure for the entire day, going to great lengths to ensure ‘her residents’ were cared for and re-housed satisfactorily. Residents lost almost all their of belongings. Professional counselling (debriefing) was made available to residents and housekeeper. Some St Joseph’s residents are now living with their respective family, and four / six residents have been / will be accommodated by other Melbourne metropolitan Abbeyfield houses. When St Joseph’sre-opens, the local committee of management intends to return all residents to their room in their house’.
Immediate incident response
The immediate response to fire was quite good, and ran relatively smoothly due to the onsite collaboration between:· the Stonnington City Council (Municipal recovery manager on site)· Abbeyfield Australia· the local committee chairman and his committee· other Abbeyfield houses, particularly East Malvern, North Melbourne, Waverley and Richmond· the Menzies Private Apartments (which provided initial shelter for residents and an ‘Incident response command post’)· several service organisations including St Vincent de Paul and the Australian Red Cross. Insurance coverage and rebuilding Abbeyfield St Josephs Malvern is located in inner Melbourne metropolitan suburb of Malvern. It is one of Australia’s youngest Abbeyfield houses, opening in 1998. It was insured under the suite of insurance policies coordinated by Abbeyfield Australia, and has good coverage including some cover for residents’ and housekeeper’s personal belongings.
The house was gutted by the fire but the external walls remain largely structurally sound. This is good news because it will hasten reconstruction. Video footage of the fire and house can be downloaded from: http://www.theage.com.au/national/aged-residents-lucky-to-escape-malvern-home-blaze-20090216-88de.html
Plans to rebuild St. Joey’s are proceeding very quickly. As at Wednesday last week (18 Feb), the insurer had already agreed in principle to re-roof the house and formal acceptance of the entire claim is expected this week. Our engineer and insurance representatives have indicated that the house could reasonably be rebuilt in 10 – 12 weeks. I acknowledge this seems too good to be true – but ironically, we benefit to some degree by the willingness of the insurance sector to streamline claims in the face of the catastrophic Victorian bush fires. The Abbeyfield St Josephs Malvern committee of management has responded quickly and professionally to the fire, and whilst Abbeyfield Australia’s involvement was extremely intensive for the first five days, the local committee is now well placed to assume carriage of the rebuilding process.
Firstly, on behalf of John Boland, chairman of Abbeyfield St Joseph’s Malvern, can l thank you all for your messages of good-will and offers of assistance. The speed and generosity of offers from across the country was simply magnificent – and says volumes about the strong bonds which exist within the broad Abbeyfield ‘family’ .The Abbeyfield St Josephs Malvern committee of management is meeting again this week, and amongst a very long agenda, will target the assistance it seeks from the Abbeyfield ‘family’. Suggestions to-date have included cash donations and offers to adopt a resident by purchasing belongings for a specific resident. I will circulate another email after this week’s committee meeting to update you on this issue.
Lessons learnt We will learn from this experience and benefit all Abbeyfield houses and hostels. The immediate response to the fire was quite good – so we need to capture what we have learnt and consider how we can improve. Abbeyfield Australia has already started reviewing aspects of the Blue Book and l am sure we will have much more communication on the subject. The local St. Joey's committee will be well placed to help draft a Critical Incident Recovery Procedure. Many other aspects of the Blue Book may also be revised; such as:
• ensuring that a backup copy of important records is securely kept off-site, or in a fire proof filing cabinet
• conducting evacuation drills at irregular hours
• checking and tagging electrical equipment.
Chris Reside Chief Executive Officer, Abbeyfield Australia February 20
| 
