Fire causes million dollar damage on HMAS Bundaberg

by Media Services on 12 Aug 2014 Firefighters took more than three hours to contain a fire that broke out on a Navy patrol boat undergoing maintenance in Brisbane yesterday.

Patrol boat HMAS Bundaberg was undergoing regular maintenance at a dry dock in Hemmant when the blaze began.
50 firefighers and 16 fire trucks were called to the scene just before midday where the vessel was well alight, causing millions of dollars in damage.

Queensland Fire and Rescue Service spokesman John Watson said there was no ammunition on board the 57-metre boat.
'They were faced with quite a significant scene when they arrived - large amounts of smoke coming out of the building ... and significant flame activity.'

He said his crews were still working with Defence staff. 'Obviously they've got great interest in their vessel and we're working closely with them, particularly on understanding what the make-up of the vessel is and the compartmentation inside,' he said.
'They've been very, very helpful and we're working very closely in the incident management team.'

Defence spokesman Paul Lineham said he had not seen an incident like this before and it was not known how the fire started.
'I haven't encountered any fires aboard them, but I guess it can happen,' he said. 'It's not the first time the boat has undergone maintenance. We have no idea what's happened so until we know, we can't speculate.'

The Armidale-class patrol boat is about 56 metres long and was commissioned in 2007. According to the Navy website, the HMAS Bundaberg (II) and 13 sister vessels are used for fisheries protection, immigration, customs and drug law enforcement operations.

Apart from smoke inhalation for which they were treated on the scene, none of the contractors on site were injured.