Olivia Ireland smh | 24 March 2023
The main function venue at a Hunter region winery was engulfed by flames on Thursday night, taking more than 50 firefighters about 4½ hours to put it out.
NSW Rural Fire Service received calls regarding a possible fire at Tamburlaine Organic Wines on McDonald’s Road in Pokolbin at about 9.30 pm.
Inspector Ben Shepherd said that when crews drove towards the winery, they could see a large glow from the area and called in more firefighters.
“When crews arrived, one of the main structures was already alight,” he said.
“It was a very large building and, when you’re getting fires in more rural areas, water can be an issue.”
While there was a dam onsite, the structure was already well alight as crews were trying to relay water quickly and went into defensive firefighting.
“It took crews until after 2am and required more than 50 firefighters to put out the flames,” Shepherd said.
There were no reported injuries, but he said the main function area was “basically destroyed”.
The winery’s managing director Mark Davidson said a major storm came through about 6pm and the venue most likely attracted lightning as it had a tin roof.
“When we first came out, it was really not a building it was a bonfire,” he said.
“The investigators are looking into what they can see as evidence for what caused it, but it was too much of a coincidence that a domestic electrical storm preceded it by a short period of time.”
Davidson was in his home about 100 metres away from the building on fire and said he didn’t hear the flame because of the wind direction.
A Hunter region winery was engulfed by flames on Thursday night, taking more than 50 firefighters about four-and-a-half hours to put it out.
“Fortunately, some passer-by was able to alert the fire brigade and they were here before we could ring them; they were fantastic,” he said.
The immediate damage control for Davidson has been to rearrange weddings that had been booked for the weekend and coming weeks.
“This is wedding season, so we were more concerned about that and making sure that we contain the damage to just one building,” he said.
The building on the winery was mainly used for weddings and major functions. Davidson said they plan to rebuild it as soon as possible.
“We’ll move as quickly as we can to replace it, that’s my current thoughts,” he said.
Tamburlaine Organic Wines’ Hunter winery was purchased in 1985 and centres on creating organic, vegan-friendly wines.
