Canberra Services Club closed until further notice after catching fire for the second time in 15 years

Australia Broadcast Center

5 days ago

Investigations are underway to determine the exact cause of a fire at the Canberra Services Club today.
Fire crews were called to the Barton venue about 11:30am, and fought to contain the blaze as smoke and flames rose from air conditioning vents on the roof.
The club and a neighbouring building were evacuated, with two people taken to hospital to be treated for smoke inhalation.
It is a major blow for the club, which moved to Barton after its original building next to Manuka Oval was gutted by fire in 2011.
In a statement on its Facebook account, the Canberra Services Club said it would be closed "until further notice" while it assessed the damage and ensured it was safe to reopen.
Canberra Services Club vice-president David Spouse said the fire started when a malfunction in one of the deep fryers caused it to boil even when it was turned off.
He said staff attempted to stop it catching fire using a fire extinguisher, which he said briefly appeared to work.
"But then it zoomed up again and went to the flue above the fryers, and some oil splashed on the floor and flame came up from there," Mr Spouse said.
"There was three of us — myself and two staff members, and two young tradies who were hoping to have a steak, which didn't happen."
ACT Fire and Rescue Superintendent Jim Walsh said at the height of the blaze there were about 30 firefighters involved in fighting it.
He said the fire was contained to the Canberra Services Club, but due to heavy smoke the building next door was also evacuated.
"We've ultimately had five pumping appliances attending the incident, two aerial appliances, and some breathing apparatus support vehicles as well.
"[And] there's been two people who've been taken to hospital as a precautionary measure, just to ensure they didn't suffer any smoke inhalation or inhale any other substances."
Mr Spouse said the blaze was "all a bit of a haze".
"[I'm] pretty shaken because, you know, I've never been involved in something like that before," he said.
"It's sort of confronting when you see a fire, and a fire that you can see is getting out of control.
"But everyone is sort of fit and healthy, thank goodness."
He said he didn't yet know the extent of the damage, but it was likely very extensive.
"All of the windows at the back have blown out, there was a large bang, [and] there appears to be damage on the side to the roof," Mr Spouse said.
"I'm assuming that the amount of water that you have to pour on to address a fire of this sort means there's going to be a lot of damage — and it's an old 1960's building, so who knows.
"And inside, we're not allowed to go in there so we don't know, but I'm assuming it's going to be pretty severe."