New owner of burnt hostel faces grim rebuild as more details emerge

New owners of a backpacker hostel gutted by a fatal fire have revealed the “mountain” they face after the tragedy. It comes after a mechanic recalled the heart stopping moment he tried to wake another tenant as flames tore through.

Barnacles Backpackers in Bowen burnt down on 30 April 2025, the day Scott Kennedy's family was due to settle on the property.

The devastated owner of a gutted backpacker lodge has described the “mountain” he and his wife are up against after their new business was largely destroyed in a fire which tragically claimed a life.

Police are investigating the blaze that decimated Barnacles Backpackers on April 30, but no arrests or charges have been made.

Authorities had initially believed all those inside had been accounted for and evacuated safely at the time of the fire.

Tragically, that was not the case.

The new owner, father-of-three Scott Kennedy, said he understood the victim of the tragedy was someone “connected to it”.

The identity at this stage has not been made public.

Mr Kennedy said he was still struggling emotionally when it came to the loss his family had faced after their newly purchased hostel went up in flames.

The family moved to Bowen 10 months ago and while in search for their perfect home they were told the local backpackers’ would soon be available but it needed a bit of work, so Mr Kennedy and his wife Dominique Tètreault decided to take the plunge.

Scott Kennedy and his family have a mammoth effort after part of their newly purchased hostel was razed by fire.

Mr Kennedy said the price for the backpackers’ was negotiated down because, like any good project, there was a lot of work to be done.

A settlement date was set for April 30.

Mr Kennedy said he had been planning on staying at the property the night of the fire but decided against it.

He said he woke up in the early hours to a voice message from the landowner telling him the house was on fire.

Neither the previous owner nor Mr Kennedy is accused of any wrongdoing in relation to the fire.

He said he rushed over and when he arrived less than 10 minutes later the house was completely up in flames.

Firefighters work to put out a fire at Barnacles Backpackers Bowen, April 30, 2025. Image supplied by Scott Kennedy

The family were planning on moving into the building but that wouldn’t be possible now for quite a while.

“It’s devastating,” Mr Kennedy said.

“I’ve got so much to do.

“There’s just a mountain of things.

“It’s intense.”

A second building at the address is still operating and taking backpackers. Photo: Contributed

Mr Kennedy said despite everything there was a silver lining in the fact that the second building at the address was unscathed.

“This building is the one with the kitchen, this building’s got the one with the laundry, it’s got enough room for 40 beds, there’s a couple of really nice private rooms,” he said.

“There’s potential here, there’s still a viable business.”

Mr Kennedy said he and his wife had agreed in their contract to take the property as is, so despite everything, they were advised they were still obligated to go through with the settlement which ended up taking place on May 1, with a discount negotiated.

He said they were still taking backpackers in the second building under the new business name, Mangoes Backpacker Hostel and Farmstay.

Mr Kennedy said the work to clean up the property would be a mammoth effort.

Images of Barnacles Backpackers in Bowen before the April 30 2025 fire. Photo: Contributed

“It’ll be a great place,” he said.

“Now we’ve got to be ultra careful, because if we’re not careful we’ll go bankrupt.”

He said he was grateful for the support and knowledge of his friends, family and the community and welcomed people’s help.

Mr Kennedy said while the situation was devastating he couldn’t think about ‘what ifs’, and the dream of running the hostel certainly was not over yet.

Mr Kennedy was no stranger to an adventure after he and Ms Tètreault met in Sydney and travelled across the country before settling down on the Gold Coast where they had three sons.

But in 2019 they sold their house and took on their biggest adventure yet.

They brought a catamaran in France, planning on spending a couple of years on the boat and instead sailing around the world for nearly five years.

They then moved back to the Gold Coast but the rental crisis left them with money dwindling away and no home.

They looked right across Australia and settled on Bowen.

Mr Kennedy looks over the burned remains of his property.

‘Hot as hell’

A mechanic staying at Barnacles when the blaze ripped through the building was woken by a fire alarm and alerted another lodger before the inferno consumed the building.

Beau Barber said smoke had been pouring into his room and it was “hot as hell” when he woke up to a fire alarm sounding as a flames took hold of the two-level property where he had been staying on the ground floor.

“I heard glass breaking and I looked out of my window and I saw flames coming from the side of the house,” he said

Beau said he was not able to leave through the evacuation route because “it was all fire and the ceiling had started collapsing”.

Beau Barber was staying at Barnacle Backpackers when it went up in flames on April 30 2025 in Bowen.

So he made his way outside via a different exit. It was at this time Beau said he noticed another man, who had just moved into that hostel building on the Tuesday, was nowhere to be seen.

Beau said he went back inside the fiery property with an extinguisher and “banged on his door”.

“I couldn’t wake him,” he said, adding he went back outside and started banging on the wall and “yelling fire, fire” before he was able to rouse his housemate and he also went outside.

“It was very scary … I could have lost my life,” he said.

Beau said he had moved from Mount Isa to Bowen about two months ago for work as a mechanic and had immediately started living at Barnacles.

He said the Monday and Tuesday before the fire he had received text messages to leave that building and move into another building at the address that was also part of the hostel accommodation.

Scott Kennedy arrived at Barnacles Backpackers in Bowen on 30 April 2025 and saw the building completely up in flames. Photo: Contributed

He said a number of French backpackers had been moved to the other building on the Monday.

Emergency crews were called just before 3am.

Beau said sometime that night he was woken by three loud bangs above that he thought came from the top floor of the two-storey building.

“I thought, what’s going on,” he said.

He said he went back to sleep and then woke up to the fire alarm going off and “looked up and (there was) smoke in my room”.

“All the roof and flooring collapsed not long after we got out,” he said.

Beau said had since moved into the other building at the address but had difficulty sleeping and was plagued by flashbacks.

“I keep thinking maybe this place might get lit on fire,” he said.

Originally published as New owner of burnt hostel faces grim rebuild as more details emerge