Up In Smoke – Burns Philp Moresby Lights Up
Good buddy and Madang- Ples Bilong Mi reader Rich Jones shot me an email this morning with photos of the Burns Philp fire in Port Moresby.
This from Rich Jones:
We were sitting on the balcony drinking wine and saw a huge plume of smoke from downtown. Like any good PNGer we immediately raced towards the disaster and saw the final moments of the famous yet flammable Burns Philip building, once home of the excellent Tribal Den nightclub and currently under, um, renovation. There were vast and knowledgeable crowds who were remarkably close to the action and a few brave firemen trying to save Westpac with some very leaky hoses.
Check out Jenn’s chairs in the heart of the fire.
It was quite a communal affair. Well ordered and quite solemn at times.
Rich sent some shots of the fire along with the email. The Sunday night fire, which rated a short blurb in the Post Courier’s online rag, was apparently spectacular and a great crowd pleaser:
The building was under renovation at the time of the fire. You can plainly see the scaffolding.
Here it is getting well and truly under way:
I’m not familiar with Port Moresby (and I can’t say that I’m a big fan either), so I don’t know what we’re looking at in this shot:
A lot of money burning up, I’d say. Rich explained to me on the phone that the firemen did manage to save the bank next to the blazing building, but doesn’t give huge credit for that, since the wind was blowing the other direction quite strongly.
Here is a shot showing the mystery chairs, which were, by all accounts, amazingly fire resistant. Sounds like a handy thing to save your home in case someone spontaneously combusts while napping in front of the tellie:
I recall several huge fires here in Madang. The first that I remember, strangely enough, was the Burns Philp warehouse fire way back when. Then Binnen Bakery burned down, followed soon by the Lutheran Shipping Fibreglass shop. That one was very spectacular. There were 200 litre drums popping like bombs and rocketing many tens of metres into the air trailing orange flames. A terrific show which we could easily watch from our house.
Probably the most well remembered fire in Madang is the old Chemcare shop. Here’s our old buddy Greg O’Keeffe looking a little bewildered as his shop burns to the ground behind him.
The Fire Service makes an easy target, since the equipment is laughable, and the record of success rather thin. I can’t recall a single fire in Madang at which the Fire Service made much impression on the fire. Maybe it’s just my poor memory.
Lest we pick on the poor Fire Service fellows, let’s remember that they are about as effective as any other government operation. Let’s not single them out for abuse. There’s enough to go around to everybody.
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I agree. Fire Fighters in Australia have reasonable equipment to fight fires and when the equipment and uniforms wear out and are no longer considered “good for use” they are donated to Pacific Islands nations such as PNG.
Of course most overseas fire fighters have the basic element of water to fight fire but in PNG this is often cut off at the mains. Like most government departments it is an uphill battle for every aspect of the job.
What a shame. I remember BPs quite well, from the 60s when I lived in Pt Moresby and used to have lunch in the top pub and often drank in the bottom pub and bought lots of things in BPs. What were they building there? Is BPs still going? (And Steamships)?
Good blog mate.
Peter Donelly, please state the source of your “facts” re fire-fighting equipment. Also, who cuts the water off?
May I remind you Australia has been contributing about $360 Million per year to PNG . Where does a lot of this money go?
http://eview.anu.edu.au/cross-sections/vol5/pdf/06.pdf
The above site may help you find out.
Regards
Mal, I’m not sure how to address your comment. You’ll have to contact Peter if you want him to substantiate his information. Putting the word facts in double quotes suggests that you disagree, if I’m reading it correctly. I’ll leave it between you and Peter to sort that out. I usually print comments as received unless I have reason to disbelieve what I’m reading. As for the leaky hoses, I’ll be happy to testify to that from my own observations.
As for water being cut off, anybody who lives in urban PNG knows this as a fact. Here in Madang we are often without town water for days. Aside from the inconvenience and health hazards, it means that there is no water for fire fighting when the pumping station has no power. It’s a situation that has an easy fix, but the fix is never done. The “WHY” of that is a long and interesting story.
I’ve been here since 1981 and, to my knowledge, the fire fighting service has not saved a single building. If I am incorrect, somebody please set me straight.
You don’t need to remind us that Australia pounds plenty of money down the rat hole. I scanned the document to which you link. On first reading it struck a familiar cord. I wanted to go back to it for a closer look, but I could not get it to load again. My personal opinion is that, as long as PNG refuses to accept help to spend the money wisely, then Australia would be of more assistance to PNG by giving grants to Australians to come to PNG and spend the money as tourists. I grant that that is a facetious suggestion, but it illustrates our perplexity at seeing so much effort accomplish less than it could.
Thanks for reading, Mal, and thanks for taking to the time to comment.
Maddog, what I am essentially suggesting is that the lack of firefighting equipment and training is due in most part to the non-application of Australian grant money to the purpose for which it is intended. I don’t think the implication that Australia gives its junk to PNG holds water (pun intended). The same can of course be said about a multitude of other services. As for tourism, PNG as a country has an immense potential, but this will never be attained while tourists have grave doubts over health issues and, most of all, law and order.
In spite of the continuing assistance it provides, Australia always seems to be portrayed as the bad guy.
Mal, I could not agree with you more vis a vis your first sentence, and you raise some other salient points. The misapplication of funds seems to be systemic and we’re not talking Australian cash alone. If I were in charge (thank God I’m not), I’d simply cut all aid until sufficient controls are in place to assure that funds are applied as they are intended. Drastic – yes. Effective – who knows? Certainly there would be much squealing heard from POM.
I would never suggest that I believe that Australia sends its cast-off junk piled up in a freighter and calls it aid. I seriously doubt that Peter suggested that either, though he’d have to say that himself. Nevertheless, I don’t see any problem with sending to PNG perfectly serviceable equipment that is being replaced for reasons other than poor condition. There can be many reasons for such replacements. Perhaps the problem arises after the equipment arrives. Proper maintenance is not our strong suit.
As for tourism, it is a crying shame that PNG has so many problems that prevent it from reaching its potential. Aside from the law and order problem we need to look at the cost of transportation. Air Niugini’s stranglehold on international travel costs the country a fortune in lost tourism revenue. I heard rumours of an international airport in Madang when I first arrived in 1981. The rumours still persist, despite the fact that no plan has succeeded. Madang is the logical centre for tourism in PNG, not POM. Yet tourists have to suffer the expense, danger and inconvenience of passing through POM, though it makes no sense.
I sincerely hope that I have never cast Australia as the bad guy for the problems associated with assistance. In fact, I think that a little tough love might be in order. As long as PNG politics sees Australian aid as a birthright and disallows mechanisms that would foster trust in the partnership, I can’t see that much will change.