Hot Chocolate Fire in Marrickville

Well, I woke up early in this morning. I opened my eyes and was annoyed by the flashing lights. Wondering what my neighbours might be up to I looked out my window and saw the flashing lights of a police car on Marrickville Road. I considered going back to sleep, but thought, now that I am up, I’ll have a drink. Going out to the kitchen I saw many very low black clouds going past. For a moment I marvelled at the sight. I pored a drink of water. I thought, I could take a photo and wondered that it is not normal that my unit is at the same level as the clouds. I turned on the light. The switch did not work. Annoyed, I tried a different switch. That did not work either. So I went out onto the balcony. The whole suburb was dark. Only the distant light from the CBD lit the scene. I looked to the right and could see the strange glow of the fire. Fire?

So I went back inside, lit a candle and in the dim light found some clothes grabbed my camera and mono pod and headed outside. As I opened the door I was in a pool of light. I looked confusedly at the light. I had not turned it on. Oh? The emergency lighting system had kicked in. Well at least it works. I headed down onto the street. They had closed Marrickville road east of Victoria Road. I asked the police man if I was able to go down there. He said yes. So I headed down the road. There were very many fire engines and other support vehicles.

I looked at my mobile. The time was 2AM. I joined a group of about 12 people watching the proceedings. I took some photos. I was still too asleep was struggling to get the camera settings right. My brain was not working.

I then headed off east to see if there were other vantage points. The fire was on Meeks Road. On Sydney road I found two men. You could just see the back of the building. There was a fire truck directly behind the building. We were still a block away. I took some photos there too.

Then I wandered over to Sydenham Road and up to Vincent Street. Here I could again see the fire over some buildings. I then went out to Meeks Road again, and this time took some photos from the other side of the fire.

I headed home to get my longer lens. But by the time I returned they had mostly put out the fire. I spoke with a man in the crowd on Marrickville Road. He said that at it’s height the flames had been leaping out of the top of the building.

The next morning, I caught the train to work as I do on Fridays. On the way past I visited the fire scene. The damage to the factory, a chocolate factory, was extensive.

On my return from work, I again headed down there and saw that they had again blocked off the road. They are now starting to demolish the building. There is still smoke poring from the building.

Just a moment ago there was a burst of smoke and the sound of water on metal from the factory. I guess that while they were removing rubble, they had caused the fire to flare up again.

Timeline:

1 Jan 11:00 PM – Fire Starts.
2 Jan 2:00 AM – I go out to see the fire.
2 Jan 5:00 AM – Fire is mostly out.
3 Jan PM – They start demolishing the factory.

Apparently this is the second time the business has burned down in 5 years.

In the morning I posted 2 photos before I went to work and another two as I went to work. Some are doing well on the google search:

3 Jan Update: The demolition continues.

Woo hoo! number one in a google search! ;o

A you tube video by a person who lives across the road of the beginning of the fire.

4 Jan: the demolition continues. The road is still blocked off. There is now a permanent police man on duty. I will have to walk the long way round and take some photos from the other side.

6 Jan: I expect that this will be the last of these updates. The fire is over. The factory demolished. I expect that in a while they will clean up the site and build a new factory. So maybe next time I will get some better photos.