A major fire on Wednesday night has destroyed the historic Two Storey Hotel in the outback town of Tibooburra.
Tibooburra is the most north-western precinct in the state, almost 1200 kilometres from Sydney, near both the South Australian and Queensland borders.
Local firefighters from the town of just 134 people were summoned shortly before midnight, to be joined by crews from Silverton, coming over 350 kilometres from the south.
Nearby road crews reportedly brought water tankers to assist the Far West Rural Fire Service and Barrier District Police onsite.
It took over five hours to bring the fire under control, leaving four people injured. Two local men, aged 51 and 27, sustained major burns while providing help. They had to be flown to Adelaide, both in serious but stable conditions. An injured firefighter was taken to hospital in Broken Hill, and a woman had to be treated for smoke inhalation.
Emergency services were initially called out to attend to a fire in a shed behind the hotel, but it soon spread to the hotel. The cause of the fire remains undetermined and an investigator will attend the scene and work with Barrier Police, but it is not being treated as suspicious.
The sandstone Two Storey was built in the early 1880s. The fire caused upstairs rooms to collapse into the bar downstairs and exploded gas bottles, with the only elements remaining the stone exterior and some rooms at the northern end of the structure.
Tibooburra’s power was turned off for more than a day, as a safety measure while the ruins smouldered.
Two Storey has been in the hands of the same family for three generations, and “devasted” owner Tracey Hotchin vowed to the ABC she will see it returned to its former glory.
“It’s got a lot of family history for me, but it’s also got a history for the community.
“It’s the only two-storey building in Tibooburra … it’s an iconic building.”
