Gold Coast hinterland fire: Binna Burra Lodge ‘totally destroyed’

One of the Gold Coast’s most beloved hinterland lodges has been gutted by the savage fire which has so far claimed 11 homes.

The lodge is heritage listed.

ONE of the Gold Coast’s most beloved hinterland lodges has been gutted by the savage fire which has so far claimed 11 homes.

Yesterday the Scenic Rim Regional Council Disaster Management team detailed the devastating loss to the 86-year-old building and surrounding property.

The Sky Lodges, a group of award-winning $12m luxury apartments with views to Numinbah Valley, were also heavily damaged by the fire.

At the time, the apartments were sold for between $310,000 to $1.08m as freehold residential properties.

The lodge devastated by fire. Picture: ABC News

The entire property had been evacuated on Friday afternoon and the road closed, except to emergency services.

Scenic Rim Mayor Greg Christensen said the building had been "totally destroyed”.

“Until we can get in there we won’t know the extend of it,” he said.

“But it is clear for all intents and purposes that its core resources and majority of resources have been destroyed.”

It was known the restaurant and reception area had been affected, but now authorities say there is significant damage to every structure.

QFES Assistant Commissioner Kevin Walsh said helicopter vision revealed the extent of the fire.

“Vision up there showed lot of significant damage,” he said.

“We had firefighters on location at 3am but couldn’t take appliances in as there were massive trees blocking the roads.

“Fire was traversing in their direction and they had to exit and at first light had to order choppers. As soon as we got the vision from the chopper we knew there was significant damage because of the sound of breaking glass.”

Mr Christensen also told media that “this fire has continued to show a mind of its own and early this morning it crept into the Binna Burra Resort and there has been significant structural loss”.

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Binna Burra Lodge has suffered damage from the blaze

Inside the Binna Burra Lodge Dining Room

“And that is further compounded by the challenge of what we said (on Saturday) that the road is significantly compounded with trees coming down as well as the wind coming up being a continued corridor of risk, even for firefighters who believe it is unsafe to even get in without the risk of getting trapped.”

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BUSHFIRE CRISIS: A fire burning in Illinbah, Queensland on Friday. Picture: supplied.

Binna Burra's Sky Lodges were also heavily damaged. Picture: ABC News

“Whilst QFES are doing a great job of getting defence in place, the reality is we (have the) structural loss that occurred and potentially much more loss.

“The great news is that we continue to enjoy the outcome of no loss of life.”

In a post to Facebook alongside images from ABC News, Binna Burra Lodge wrote: “It is with great sadness that we share these photos of the lodge that we have just received. All staff and guests were evacuated on Friday”.

“We will be updating you all as more information comes through. This is a very sad day for us all. Please continue to be patient with as more information becomes available.”

Assistant Comm Walsh said that the difficult accessibility of Binna Burra made the fight to save the lodge far more dangerous.

“We have had some structural loss at Binna Burra Lodge unfortunately, accessibility continues to be a major problem for us in this location, it’s a very dangerous and dynamic situation up there at the moment,” he said.

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The lodge decades ago.

“The main problem with the lodge is there’s just one road in and one road out, we had crews in close vicinity last night but they couldn’t make entry to the grounds, it’s a very skinny road and surrounded by huge trees. A lot of the trees have been burnt out so any type of wind we’ve got huge trees falling across the road, it’s an incredibly dangerous situation.

“We had to withdraw some resources, we were unable to get any type of appliance into that location just due to the danger involved at the moment.

“We do have some air assets up there trying to make an impact on the fire but because they are structural fires, the effect of this will have to be monitored. It will be marginal at best.

The fire and smoke surrounding the Binna Burra Lodge. Picture: ABC News

“It is evolving hour by hour. We still have a couple of days to go before we have any respite in the weather. But the fire continues to be impacted by very unpredictable winds …

“The clear message today is to contain the fire but it is uncontrolled at the moment.”

Binna Burra Lodge, a heritage-listed building, opened in 1933 when naturalists Romeo Lahey and Arthur Groom founded the hinterland spot in December, the same month Surfers Paradise was named.

Residents are being urged to be prepared, stay calm and act promptly when being directed to leave.