Devastating fires leave city’s history in ashes
Bulldozers wipe away part of city’s history in blaze’s wake
THE flood of emotions and support that engulfed Dalby in the wake of a devastating school fire on Anzac Day is a reminder of how crime can impact a community.
As 20 firefighters fought to control the blaze at Dalby State School early on Tuesday morning, a vanguard of staff watched as flames raged through five buildings.
Heritage-listed buildings more than 150-years-old were left in smouldering ruins, student records reduced to rubble and crime-scene tape later roped around the remnants. Early estimates put the damage bill at $1 million, factoring in the cost of instruments in the music room, the buildings and the teaching tools and equipment on which staff rely every day.
But from the ruins came a groundswell of support for the school and wider region as investigations into what ignited the fire continued.
The fire’s cause is yet to be determined and while security footage from nearby businesses show people in the area around the time the blaze started about 12.30am on Tuesday there’s no suggestion they were involved.
Forensic police have been unable to establish whether an accelerant was used at the point of ignition in the music room, and due to the extent of the damage done, it is unlikely a definitive cause will be determined.
Recovery from fires can take months, even years, as owners first await insurance dividends then determine
the futures of the sites.
That process has played out in Toowoomba in recent years and months where razed buildings and bulldozed blocks serve as reminders of fierce fires.
When Glennon House on Ruthven St went up in flames the night of Friday, January 6, a piece of the Garden City’s history was destroyed.
It housed thousands of people over its lifetime in its many functions and, as the fire burned that night, immediate concerns were for the latest tenants - the city’s homeless living rough.
One wall which bore the proud name Glennon House fronting Ruthven St blocked from view to passing drivers the devastation left in the fire’s wake.
Months later, excavators moved in and tore through what was left of the former
hotel and alternative care accommodation.
A seven-storey high-rise complex will rise in its wake in coming months, which will change the southern
end of Ruthven St.
Similar movement has occurred at 72 West St where once stood a colonial home built in 1910.
A fire in the early hours
of Friday, January 13, left just a double brick chimney standing, and a young family lucky to be alive.
The site has been cleared of the charred remains,
another piece of the city’s history gone.
Plans for the site remains unclear, as does the future of Snap Fitness at the corner of James and West Sts which was hit twice by fires more than a year ago.
Once a hub of fitness activity for more than a 1000 gym members, the building has been closed since the initial fire on the morning of December 12, 2015. A second fire 15 days later further damaged the building which appears to have been left untouched ever since.