Ross keeps smiling despite loss to fire

Top: Ross Doherty lost valuable farming equipment and household belongings in a shed fire on Monday, but said he was still smiling because the CFA saved his house, car and about 20 chickens.Above and left: Firefighters battle the blaze, which started abou

By Paul Dunlop
A MAN who lost his shed and all of its contents in a fire at Officer on Monday is still smiling.
Ross Doherty is counting the cost of a blaze that destroyed valuable farm equipment, tools, camping gear and children’s belongings that were stored in the shed, but is happy the outcome was not worse.
Mr Doherty hailed the CFA members as heroes after firefighters successfully stopped the flames before they spread to his house.
“The main thing is, nobody was hurt,” he said.
The fire started just after 9.15am, possibly as a result of an electrical fault in a freezer stored in the shed.
At the peak of the blaze, flames were licking at high voltage powerlines running over the property and posed a serious threat to other outbuildings, a car, and even the Dohertys’ house.
CFA units from Officer, Beaconsfield, Pakenham, Toomuc and Berwick were called to the blaze, in Browns Road, and successfully quelled the flames, which were leaping from the shed when they arrived.
Mr Doherty said the firefighters did a fantastic job.
“They were absolutely magnificent. It could have been so much worse,” he said.
“The car was next, then the house.”
Also saved from the flames were 20 chickens housed in another shed close to the one that burned.
Mr Doherty’s wife Julie had just left to take their children to school and Mr Doherty was preparing to go to work when he heard a “light, rumbling noise”.
“I saw the shed on fire, so I rang 000, grabbed a hose and shifted the car out of the road,” he said.
“The heat from the flames was incredible. Everything inside the shed is gone, there’s nothing left, but I’m still smiling.”
Officer CFA captain Garry Barnes said the fire had the potential to be catastrophic.
If it had moved beyond the shed, the damage would have been even more considerable, he said.
“We were very lucky,” Capt Barnes said.
“If it had spread to the car then we’re talking the house as well and it was directly underneath powerlines. It was a close call, we could have been in real strife.”
Firefighters used a special breathing apparatus to combat the effects of smoke and fumes.
There were a number of small explosions as the heat caused tinned goods and gas cylinders to pop open.
“It was fairly unnerving,” Capt Barnes said.
Firefighters stayed at the scene for several hours mopping up embers and dampening down the charred ruins of the shed and its contents.
Although most of the items destroyed were replaceable, the Dohertys’ six children had stored personal effects such as diaries and other belongings in the shed that could not be recovered.
“We’ve been here nearly three years and never had an emergency like this. The fire brigades were absolutely fantastic, full credit to them,” he said.
“They did a magnificent job.”