A retrospective account attributed to Harry Holland and Tom Muston describes more than seventy firefighting vehicles working in the Glenhaven area at the height of a devastating fire. Crews came from across the Sydney region and beyond. The account records two houses destroyed, one unoccupied, and no injuries.
That account calls it an Australia Day fire on 26 January 1975. The original compiler twice flags the date as incorrect, stating that other records and people from the era place the fire on 25 January. This presentation uses 25 January as the editorial timeline date and keeps the conflicting quotation visible.
The aftermath appears in everyday paperwork as well as dramatic recollection. A letter thanked the base radio operators, described as “the back room girls”. Another revived the long-delayed toilet request after the experience of hosting several brigades at the shed.
The fire also inspired the brigade’s letterhead: a road through burnt bushland and a promise of voluntary service to the community. That image appears on later letters, carrying the memory of the fire into ordinary administration.
Read the evidence
Open the original record at the supporting passage.
- over seventy fire fighting vehicles1971-1975.htm
- overwhelming evidence1971-1975.htm
- the back room1971-1975.htm