Bulli blaze threatens residential properties

FOUR separate NSW Fire Brigade crews were called to Bulli on Monday when an air compressor sparked a dangerous fire in a block of units.

Manfred Meyns, the owner of two blocks of units just North of the Bulli Heritage Hotel on the Princes Highway was pumping up the tyres of this car with an air compressor which he had stored- along with a massive amount of odds and ends- in a double garage in one of the blocks of units when it burst into flames.

Mr Meyns said he was shocked when he noticed the garage had caught fire.

"Suddenly my compressor stopped pumping the air and I noticed a fire," he said.

"I was very shocked.

"My tenants called the fire brigade I got a bucket and threw water at it.

" It was a vicious little fire from the word go."

By the time the Fire Brigade arrived about 10 minutes after receiving the call, the fire had a firm grip on the plentiful and varied contents of the garage, and smoke and flames were pouring from building's the high windows, the glass having exploded outwards from the heat.

The fire was out within about 20 minutes of it starting but Station Officer Andrew Sefton from Bulli Fire Brigade said it could have easily spread into the neighbouring units if it had not been quickly brought under control.

"It could have been quite a different story," he said.

The fire crews remained behind to begin clearing the wreckage after the fire was out.

Forming a line from the garage door to the side of the building the officers passed a steady stream of charred and melted debris away from the site of the fire to form a large pile of blackened oddities along the side wall.

Among the damaged items were 11 wooden doors, a small bath tub, a wall heater, an old bicycle, a screen door, a lump of concrete, hub caps, paint and a body board, half melted in the flames.

No one was harmed in the fire, but the unit above the garage was smoke logged.

The tenant of that unit had left to work earlier that morning.

Station Officer Sefton said there is a lesson to be learned from the fire for the wider community.

"The lesson to be learned is make sure you keep household matters in order," he said.