Date: 17/07/2000
About 1,000 rare and exotic creatures perished in a $1 million blaze at one of Australia's most popular tourist parks yesterday.
The priceless crocodiles, snakes, lizards, frogs, turtles and platypuses were killed in the fire at the Australian Reptile Park and Wildlife Sanctuary on the Central Coast.
Only two small turtles were rescued, one from the smoldering ashes by a firefighter, the other from a nearby water tank.
Devastated staff, who have spent years collecting the rare animals, underwent grief counseling as busloads of tourists were turned back from the gutted building, at Somersby off the Sydney-to-Newcastle Freeway.
The 50-year-old park has won many awards, including 1998 Best Regional Tourist Attraction in Australia. It is also home to Australia's leading snake and spider venom milking station, which is responsible for saving 300 lives every year.
The NSW Fire Brigades said flames ripped through the building's animal and breeding enclosures and offices about 12:15am. The blaze, which took 50 firefighters three hours to bring under control, was not being treated as suspicious, said the Fire Brigades' Captain Martin Sinclair.
"At this point there is nothing to indicate ... that it was of suspicious origin, there is no sign of forced entry or breakage or anything," Captain Sinclair said.  He estimated the damage bill, including the animals, at more than $1 million.
Firefighters had initially been concerned about trampling through the snake- and spider-infested building, he said.  "It is certainly in the back of your mind," Captain Sinclair said. "We opened one door to make access and there was an eight-foot python curled up on the inside of the door. "It was apparent fairly quickly that it had expired."
Captain Sinclair said even though the fire had been extinguished, there was an immediate threat to the surviving animals.  "There is a need to get power and their water treatment back on fairly quickly because a lot of these animals, like the exotic turtles outside, need a constant maintained water quality and temperature."
Captain Sinclair said the animals would not have suffered in the blaze. "Certainly the
indications are ... I would say they would have expired pretty rapidly, it appears the build-up of fire was fairly rapid. "They wouldn't have suffered. "The smoke quite possibly would have numbed them. They were probably unconscious."
Distraught staff were being counseled, he said. "There was obviously a lot of staff there who were very saddened, that have established a rapport with their charges.  "The people that constantly handle these animals, they are experts in their own right. They have spent months and years, in some cases, with these animals.
"Any major fire is a tragedy, certainly the fact they were exotic animals. It is also a major blow to tourism, prior to Olympics."
AAP