Suspicious fire at the former Kenmore psychiatric hospital under investigation
Police are investigating a huge blaze which ripped through an entire section of a 126-year-old former psychiatric hospital in Goulburn, causing more than $500,000 worth of damage.
The Bowral News
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Police are investigating how part of a former psychiatric hospital was destroyed after fire ripped through the 126-year-old building.
Emergency services were called to the hospital on Taralga Rd about 4.26pm on Saturday to find the former female section of the two-storey, known as Ward 15, building was well alight.
Fire and Rescue NSW crews worked for five hours to bring the fire under control.
The building was completely destroyed, with the damage valued at more than $500,000.
Fire and Rescue NSW Inspector Dean Campbell, who got to the site moments after the Goulburn station fire truck, said: “We got there pretty quickly after the call and it was really very dangerous to be anywhere near the buildings.
“The entire roof was completely alight and fire had already breached the roof at that stage and was obviously very intense.
“Because of the great ferocity of the fire and the heavy slates on the roof, all of the eaves were breaking off and falling off the second storey to the ground.
“I was quite concerned about the actual walls collapsing as well because of the intensity of the fire.”
He described the two-storey building as “totally destroyed.”
Insp Campbell said if the crews had not taken the relevant measures when they did, the complex could’ve been destroyed in its entirety.
“We were faced in a situation where the building (two storey building) was already gone but the fire was going to link into another 5 buildings that were going to be in the same situation pretty quickly if we didn‘t adjust our tactics, so we moved and cut the fire off at that connecting building to stop it spreading to the whole complex,” Insp Campbell said.
“We’re pretty lucky the winds were going into the direction they were, it gave us a bit of time, if the winds were going into the other direction we would’ve been in a world of hurt.”
Officers from The Hume Police District have declared the former hospital a crime scene, with the Goulburn Criminal Investigation team working from Sunday morning, along with units from Sydney including an Accelerant Detection Canine (ADC), to find out what the cause of the fire was.
Police have been in touch with the company who owns the complex, Australia China International, about the fire damage.
Last year, the site was also heavily damaged by a fire and Heritage NSW launched a compliance investigation in November 2020, which the community is still yet to be updated about.
Despite being bought in 2003, and having gone through several owners since, the site has remained fairly abandoned, which Goulburn locals have expressed their frustration about.
Nurse Phillip Martin, who trained in the complex during the start of his career, said it was upsetting to see the former hospital in ruins.
“It saddens me to see the demise of the historic hospital and the continued degradation since its closure. In particular Ward 15, or what is now remaining of Ward 15, where I spent the first three years of my psychiatric nursing career, starting in 1978,” Mr Martin said.
“I‘m sure all those people who are still around who had a connection to Kenmore Hospital are feeling a little hollow and sad as well. Surely these old grounds and buildings with historical significance can’t be left to just rot away like a carcass or be the playground for vandals.”
As inquiries continue, police are appealing for anyone with information, as well as dashcam or CCTV footage from the area, to come forward.
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