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Fire at Hornsby Fire Station, 1971
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Date5th January 1971
DescriptionOn 5th January 1971 at 4:50pm a Golden Fleece petrol tanker loaded to capacity with 5,500 gallons or 25,000 litres of petrol was travelling towards Hornsby from Waitara along the Pacific Highway. As the tanker turned right at the intersection of the Pacific Highway, Pretoria Parade and College Crescent, it skidded sideways and mounted the gutter and rolled rupturing its tank into the open door of the Hornsby Fire Station, immediately bursting into flames.
Flaming fuel quickly spread to the Fire Station setting it on fire. The petrol tanker driver was pulled clear of the wreckage unharmed. The fireman who was on watch room duty at the front of the Station ran out a side door only seconds before the fire engulfed his office. Those on the floor above in the living quarters barely had time to escape the inferno having to jump through windows.
The fire station only had one doorway for vehicles so there was no exit for the new Dennis Jaguar Pumper which had just recently been purchased for $22,000. Flaming petrol flowed along the gutter north towards Edgeworth David Avenue and down Government Road to the railway line and south to the Ampol Service Station next door to the fire station.
As the flames headed north, neon signs burst, damaging shop fronts. The flow of petrol headed to the railway line and reached a petrol bowser at a garage adjacent to the railway line. The petrol bowser blew up, the garage was damaged and one car was guttered.
Residents leapt into action to help firemen battle the huge blaze. Soon fire crews arrived from the Gordon Station and they were joined by additional resources from five other Stations.
It took some time to quench the flames due to the amount of fuel and tremendous heat. Water was initially used until foam became available.
It took an hour to get the fire under control. When the fire was eventually extingujished only a skeleton of the Fire Station remained and it had to be demolished. Seventeen other buildings were damaged, but miraculously nobody was hurt.
The new fire engine was destroyed however the water tanker was saved. This was the first time the New South Wales Fire Brigades lost a fire station.
Physical FormatHornsbyDimensionsRobert Green Collection
DescriptionOn 5th January 1971 at 4:50pm a Golden Fleece petrol tanker loaded to capacity with 5,500 gallons or 25,000 litres of petrol was travelling towards Hornsby from Waitara along the Pacific Highway. As the tanker turned right at the intersection of the Pacific Highway, Pretoria Parade and College Crescent, it skidded sideways and mounted the gutter and rolled rupturing its tank into the open door of the Hornsby Fire Station, immediately bursting into flames.Flaming fuel quickly spread to the Fire Station setting it on fire. The petrol tanker driver was pulled clear of the wreckage unharmed. The fireman who was on watch room duty at the front of the Station ran out a side door only seconds before the fire engulfed his office. Those on the floor above in the living quarters barely had time to escape the inferno having to jump through windows.
The fire station only had one doorway for vehicles so there was no exit for the new Dennis Jaguar Pumper which had just recently been purchased for $22,000. Flaming petrol flowed along the gutter north towards Edgeworth David Avenue and down Government Road to the railway line and south to the Ampol Service Station next door to the fire station.
As the flames headed north, neon signs burst, damaging shop fronts. The flow of petrol headed to the railway line and reached a petrol bowser at a garage adjacent to the railway line. The petrol bowser blew up, the garage was damaged and one car was guttered.
Residents leapt into action to help firemen battle the huge blaze. Soon fire crews arrived from the Gordon Station and they were joined by additional resources from five other Stations.
It took some time to quench the flames due to the amount of fuel and tremendous heat. Water was initially used until foam became available.
It took an hour to get the fire under control. When the fire was eventually extingujished only a skeleton of the Fire Station remained and it had to be demolished. Seventeen other buildings were damaged, but miraculously nobody was hurt.
The new fire engine was destroyed however the water tanker was saved. This was the first time the New South Wales Fire Brigades lost a fire station.
Physical FormatHornsbyDimensionsRobert Green CollectionLocation
Building Name Pacific HighwayHornsby Fire StationStreet:StreetView:&enabled=1&fov=90&heading=0&pitch=0&zoom=18
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Fire at Hornsby Fire Station, 1971 (5th January 1971). Hornsby Shire, accessed 29/04/2026, https://hornsbyshire.recollect.net.au/nodes/view/2549