Huge fire causes hundreds to be evacuated from Sydney building

A BUILDING in Sydney evacuated after a huge fire this morning is the same one where a young woman jumped to her death to escape an inferno in 2012.

AS MANY as 300 people were evacuated from a southwestern Sydney building early today after a suspicious fire ripped through a pizza restaurant on the ground floor.

Emergency services were called to the fire at Rashay’s Pizza in Bankstown about 3.20am on Thursday.

It is the same building where a young woman was forced to jump to her death to escape a raging inferno in 2012. Connie Zhang died and her friend Ginger Jiang was seriously injured when they leapt from the fifth floor balcony after flames blocked their exit.

During last night’s fire, residents of the six-storey building were able to be safely evacuated as the restaurant was engulfed in flames.

One resident told Seven News the heat from the fire could be felt upstairs.

Hundreds of Sydney residents evacuated as suspicious blaze guts restaurant. @jessdietrich7 https://t.co/tJujyO5qVX pic.twitter.com/pRAx56zlM4

— 7News Yahoo7 (@Y7News) April 13, 2016

“I could smell the smoke and went up on the balcony and was surprised [to see] Rashay’s on fire,” the resident said.

Another resident has been taken to hospital as a precaution but no other injuries have been reported. Police said the fire was being treated as suspicious.

An inquest into Ms Zhang’s death after the 2012 fire found sprinklers in the unit would have given her and Ms Jiang time to be rescued.

Instead the heat inside the unit reached at least 600 degrees in just minutes causing the aluminium frame of the window to burn Ms Jiang’s arm before she jumped.

Deputy State Coroner Hugh Dillon recommended that the Australian Building Codes Board change the National Construction Code to make sprinklers mandatory in all new Class 2 and 3 residential buildings which means buildings under 25m.

After the findings were released Ms Zhang’s family said they were “tormented” by her death.

They believed if sprinklers were installed she would still be alive.

Connie Zhang died in 2012 after jumping from a fifth floor balcony to escape a fire.

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Hundreds of people were evacuated from the floors above the restaurant. Picture: Bill Hearne

Originally published as Huge fire causes hundreds to be evacuated from Sydney building