By Callum Ludwig
The Eastern Golf Club in Yering lays in ruins after a fire ripped through the building on Monday 16 October.
The blaze was so significant that CFA crews remained on site overnight and into the following day to monitor and extinguish hotspots.
Incident Controller and Coldstream CFA Captain Sean Bethell arrived with the first appliance on the scene and said in the end they had about 26 different appliances from CFA and Fire Rescue Victoria (FRV) turn out.
“Two of those were aerial appliances to make access for water streams into the top of the building, and we also had a number of pumpers for pumping water from two different static supplies on the property,” he said.
“It was quite hectic at the start trying to get a water supply due to the building having internal mill clocks we couldn’t access so we had to come from the 72,000-litre storage tanks at the rear of the property and run hose lines to the appropriate appliances to get lines into the building.”
CFA crews from Chirnside Park, Lilydale, Yarra Glen, Bayswater, Nillumbik, Scoresby, Coldstream, Hillcrest, Gruyere, Yellingo, Mooroolbark and Mt Evelyn as well as FRV stations 25, 26, 27 and 87 fought the fire.
Victoria Police blocked the entrance to the club, Ambulance Victoria remained on standby and the relevant power and gas companies also attended.
Mr Bethell said at this stage, the cause of the fire is possibly electrical.
“It looks like it may have started in a storage area for holding their golf buggies and that type of thing,” he said.
“We had it radioed to us while on route to the place that all staff had been evacuated, 12 personnel, I believe it was, so it was really top work done by the management by the golf club to ensure that all their staff and all the public that were there were all properly accounted for.”
With the alert first issued at 1.43pm, it wasn’t until 5.05pm that the incident was deemed under control. A smoke warning had also been issued for the file as thick plumes of smoke were caught by the strong winds and carried in the direction of Yarra Glen.
In a media statement, the Eastern Golf Club declared the course would still reopen to be played the following weekend, with plans for temporary clubhouse facilities and amenities getting underway immediately.
“As a Club with a history that extends back a 100+ years, the loss of our clubhouse is devastating, but it is the loss of irreplaceable trophies, photographs, artworks and memorabilia that hurts most deeply”, Club Captain Fred Jones said in the statement.
“Whilst this is undoubtedly one of the darkest moments in the rich history of The Eastern Golf Club, we are resilient and I know that our Club will come back better and stronger.”
The Eastern Golf Club also has the Yering Gorge Cottages on site, a popular accommodation choice among golfers and other Yarra Valley holidaymakers, which while undamaged, were temporarily closed for Tuesday 17 October due to power supply issues.
Eastern Golf Club staff member Nikeeta Schroder wasn’t working at the time of the fire but said it was absolutely heartbreaking.
“It is more than a job, with the members and everything, it was like a big family, so it’s more than just a place burning down to us,” she said.
“My main concern was that everyone got out and I was happy to hear that they did.”
Club members raced down to Victoria Road in their droves to see the scene for themselves.
Eastern Golf Club member Peter Burbidge said he first heard about it when another member shared the news on WhatsApp.
“We weren’t sure at first that it was Eastern, but when we saw more videos, the guys in the club were playing and they sent through some videos and we recognised it was our club,” he said.
“A lot of guys have got their clubs and other personal effects in the locker room which are all gone, then there’s the functions that are all organised with Christmas coming up and running the seniors in there in December which will all be cancelled, so it’s going to have a big impact.”
Mr Burbidge said he had faith that the course would probably be opened somehow.
“They’ll probably put up a marquee of some sort I assume, so the course won’t be affected but the general operations will be greatly affected because of all the competitions that they’ve got running at the moment,” he said.
“Some of those are just kicking off, some of the other ones have been finished but all of the memorabilia and honours for them are all gone.”
