Hospitals forced onto emergency footing after bank fire attack
SURVIVORS of the terrifying Springvale bank blast will be counselled over the horrific incident, as stories of witnesses rushing to help emerge.
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UPDATE: Of the six people with serious burns taken to The Alfred yesterday - this morning one remains in a critical condition, one patient is “critical but stable” and four patients are now in a stable condition.
The hospital will release another update on the patients’ conditions at 4pm today.
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SURVIVORS of the terrifying Springvale bank blast will be counselled as they try to come to terms with yesterday’s horrific incident.
Doctors have stressed the seriously injured are receiving the very best care at The Alfred’s specialist burns unit.
Six people with serious burns were taken to The Alfred including two men in their 20s, a man in his 60s, a man in his 70s and a woman in her 20s.
“The patients each sustained burns injuries — and are receiving the very best specialist care led by our Victorian Adult Burns Service,” The Alfred spokesman Corey Nassau said.
The man who set himself on fire is one of the injured people in the burns unit.
The 21-year-old Springvale man was taken to hospital in a serious condition and remains under police guard.
Twenty-one other people, ranging from a toddler to people in their 80s, were treated for breathing problems and taken to Monash Medical Centre in Clayton and Dandenong Hospital in a stable condition.
Three of the patients taken to Monash were children.
Code Brown incident alerts — the same as issued for the Black Saturday bushfires — were issued at all three hospitals. Thirteen patients went to Monash and 11 went to Dandenong hospitals.
Georgia Monaghan, a spokeswoman for Monash Medical Centre and Dandenong Hospital, said: “We received a number of patients at both emergency departments ... our Code Brown response was put into action and incident command centres were established at both Clayton and Dandenong.
“Counselling and debriefing has been put in place for both staff and patients.”
The Victorian Adult Burns Service at The Alfred is the state’s key burns care facility for all adults with complex injuries as well as people with less severe burns.
Each year the unit admits more than 300 burns patients and treats more than 1000 outpatients.
Commonwealth Bank chief executive officer Ian Narev last night paid tribute to the emergency services who responded to the shocking incident and helped the victims.
“We are deeply concerned about the incident at our branch in Springvale,” he said.
“Our absolute priority is the welfare of our customers and staff who were in the branch at the time.
“We have teams assisting our people and a customer liaison officer available for affected customers, and will keep them engaged as long as is necessary.
“We thank the emergency authorities for their quick response and actions.
“We are deeply concerned for everyone who has been affected and we continue to work with local authorities and emergency services to provide any assistance required.
“CBA has sent support teams to the scene and to hospitals where the injured have been taken.”
@davidhurleyHS
People rush to help fire victims
SECONDS after a suburban bank became engulfed in flames, bystanders became heroes as they extinguished fires, pulled victims from the burning building and sourced medical supplies to treat the injured.
Witnessed heard “agonising screams” after the blast at the Commonwealth Bank and quickly came to help.
Witness Bernie said it was a confronting scene.
“I could see people coming out, full of smoke, and they were covered in charcoal all over their bodies,” he told Nine News.
Another tradie, who asked not to be named, said the bank after the explosion was “honestly, black ... just black”.
“And then people with blood,” he said, describing the dozens who suffered serious injuries.
Junior Dean helped elderly and injured victims out of the bank to safety.
“You couldn’t see anything, there was thick black smoke,” he told Nine News.
“We did the best thing, we just kept screaming and shouting, they just followed our voices.”
Mr Dean remained humble about pulling at least three elderly women from the building.
“Bravery? I don’t know. I think it’s something we learn to do as human beings, to try and look out for each other when we can,” he said.
People grabbed bottles of water and ice from nearby shops to help dozens suffering smoke inhalation and burns before paramedics arrived.
One witness saw the alleged suspect.
“He was hiding in some boxes at the back of the bank, his legs was all burnt, skin was falling off his legs, he was in a bad state,” the man said.
The 21-year-old Springvale man remains in hospital under police guard.
Hero tradie helps put fire out
A QUICK thinking tradie has been labelled a hero after he ran into an exploded bank and put out the flames.
Ash Atkin-Fone was laying pipes in an alleyway opposite the Springvale Rd when he heard a “big blast” and seconds later heard a child’s screams from the Commonwealth Bank.
“This kid comes running out, all burnt, screaming his head off, skin coming off, blood everywhere,” he said.
Immediately, he sprinted across the road to the neighbouring Optus store.
He grabbed a fire extinguisher and ran into the “pitch black” bank, dousing the flames and putting out the blaze before firefighters even arrived.
“There was four people getting blasted (with glass) along the street,” Mr Atkin-Fone said.
Asked why he put himself in danger and ran into a burning building he simply said “I had to”.
“What do you do? Instincts just kicked in,” Mr Atkin-Fone said.