Tourists left in lurch after fire at Surfers Paradise apartment complex

Holidaymakers have been forced to make alternative arrangements after a blaze ripped through a unit at a Surfers Paradise apartment complex.

Holidaymakers have been left in the lurch after a fire forced them out of a Surfers Paradise unit complex.

Residents were evacuated from the Chevron Palms Holiday Apartments on Stanhill Dr after the inferno erupted at 12.45am on Thursday, gutting one apartment and leaving the rest of the complex “uninhabitable”.

Among those forced out were Sydneysiders Jeff and Susan Barry, who ended up spending the first night of their Gold Coast getaway sleeping in their car.

Jeff and Susan Barry were staying at Chevron Palms Holiday Apartments on holidays when the apartment next door erupted into flames. Photo: Jacklyn O'Brien.

“We were blissfully asleep when I heard the screaming there was a fire,” Mr Barry said.

He said he woke his wife up and said: “We better get out of here.”

The pair had been staying in a unit next to the one where the blaze erupted, which they booked through Airbnb.

Mrs Barry said they saw “fire coming from the back windows and the door was all charcoaled.”

Inside the apartment which was devastated by fire on January 2, 2025 at Chevron Palms Holiday Apartments on Stanhill Dr, Surfers Paradise. Photo: Supplied.

She said she was “annoyed and tired,” but other than that they were fine.

All she was hoping to do was get the rest of their belongings out of the smoke-affected apartment and leave the fiasco behind them.

As the pair set off on their search for a shower and a coffee at a friend’s home, police guarded a crime scene which had been set up in the wake of the fire.

Police set up a crime scene at the location of the devastating fire. Photo: Jacklyn O’Brien.

A Queensland Police Service spokesman said police were treating the fire as “suspicious”.

“Initial information indicates a residence on Stanhill Drive was set alight by unknown means around 12.45am,” he said.

“Occupants from all surrounding units were evacuated and there were no serious injuries.

“A crime scene was declared and investigations into the cause are underway.

“Police are appealing for anyone with information, CCTV or dashcam footage to come forward.”

A Queensland Fire Department spokesman said by the time fire crews arrived at the three-storey complex, at least one unit was “well involved”.

The stairwell next to the apartment which was set on fire. Photo: Supplied.

The stairwell next to the apartment which was set on fire. Photo: supplied.

Police worked with fire crews to evacuate the building, which had between 15 and 20 residents.

While the fire was out by 1.08am it was determined the complex was uninhabitable, leaving residents with nowhere to go in the middle of the night.

It made for a sleepless night for two other holidaymakers, recent university graduates from Western Australia.

They had been staying in the holiday apartment for a week when the fire happened.

Without a car to sleep in, they spent the hours until dawn on pool loungers wrapped in blankets, until it started raining cats and dogs, forcing them to move to a small undercover area.

They said they had another week left of their holiday, but given the experience, wanted nothing more than to hightail it back to the West.

“We just want to go home,” they said.

Outside the apartment which erupted into flames at the Chevron Palms Holiday Apartments. Photo: Jacklyn O'Brien.

Three people were also taken to hospital after the fire, a Queensland Ambulance Service spokeswoman said.

One person sustained burns to their hands and feet, one person suffered from smoke inhalation, and another had a sprained ankle.

The fire investigation unit was back on scene later on Thursday morning to prepare a report for police, a QFD spokesman said.

He said police had worked with community housing to arrange accommodation for the residents displaced after the fire.

At 7am on Thursday, holiday makers and permanent residents alike sat on chairs near the pool area, as they waited to be told the extent of the damager to their properties and when it might be safe to return.

Some permanent residents said a woman who lived in the burned apartment did some work for the complex as a housekeeper.

The woman was reportedly in the apartment at the time it caught fire, and it took some effort from firefighters to get her out.