Fire crews tackle roaring blaze at South Yarra’s Christ Church Grammar
The cause of a massive blaze which saw a South Yarra school “totally engulfed” in flames and two firefighters suffer minor injuries has been revealed.
Victoria
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Firefighters have brought a massive blaze at Christ Church Grammar School in South Yarra under control.
Fire crews were called to the scene on Punt Rd about 6.30am after reports of huge flames.
Fire Rescue Victoria commander Mitch Simons said two firefighters suffered minor injuries but are both were in a stable condition.
It’s understood the blaze was caused by an electrical fault in the building.
“When we arrived the rear of the church was well alight, totally engulfed in fire,” he said.
“The crews have done a really good job to deploy, surround and protect the buildings around it.”
Mr Simons said the timber lining and high-pitch roof of the church caused the fire to spread.
“It’s too early to say whether the building will be demolished,” he said.
“The bluestone walls are pretty solid so they may be able to be saved but building surveyors will come on scene and make that assessment.”
Mr Simons said one firefighter was overcome by heat stress and another received minor hand injuries from a burst water hose.
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Principal of Christ Church Grammar Neil Andary said there were about a hundred children who attended the early learning centre, which had been renovated only a year ago.
“This is a sad time for them and a difficult time, but as a school we’ll rally together and our community’s strong,” he said.
“Early learning centres are a lovely place where children explore and discover and do things at the beginning of their learning journey, so there’s a lot of memorabilia there and probably some of their belongings ... which is also another part of the grieving process that’s going to happen for them.”
Christ Church Grammar School deputy principal Keith Newman said the blaze had broken out in the school’s kindergarten, which appeared to have been destroyed.
Mr Newman said teachers and the school community were “devastated” by the blaze.
“Our kindergarten is a really beautiful part of our school,” he told ABC radio.
The cause of the blaze was unknown at this stage, Mr Newman said.
Witness Diana said the flames were “really, really big”.
“They’re about 10 storeys high,” she told 3AW.
Local resident Emily Keon-Cohen’s seven-year-old daughter attends South Yarra Primary next door, which shares a fence with the school.
Ms Keon-Cohen looked on in horror.
“It’s awful to see, I’m really sad. It’s an old building so it’s a terrible loss for the community,” she said.
“My son went to kindergarten in that building.”
“South Yarra Primary is closed for the day — we’ve been notified that there’s no damage to our buildings but emergency services are using the property to get to the blaze.”
Richard Talbot, who lives several streets away, awoke early this morning to the smell of smoke.
“It looked very serious, the flames were engulfing the roof, I could see it all from my apartment several streets away,” he said.
“They seemed to get it under control in half an hour to an hour, it all happened very quickly.”
A watch and act warning earlier issued for surrounding suburbs, including Albert Park, Cremorne, Melbourne, Prahan, South Yarra and Richmond, has been downgraded.
Punt Rd remains closed in both directions between Toorak and Commercial roads.
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