A plaque has been unveiled to commemorate the firefighter who lost his life in the fight against the fire at the Worsley Hotel in Paddington in 1974. Seven people died in the fire, including firefighter Hamish ‘Harry’ Pettit. He was only 25 years old when he died. Before his death, Pettit and his colleagues had rescued or helped to the safety of twenty hotel residents.
The plaque is part of the Fire Brigade’s Red Plaque series, which commemorates firefighters who lost their lives in connection with their service. The plaques are placed as close as possible to where the incident took place, and this plaque is located at Clifton Gardens where the incident occurred.
This plaque will be unveiled by family members Steven Pettit and Pat Whiting.
Tam McFarlane, a national officer at the Fire Brigades Union, said:
‘Firefighters who die in the performance of their duties make a huge sacrifice for the lives of others. We consider it part of our duty to honor them. The red plaque scheme was set up in the union’s 100th anniversary to help with this and we’re happy to see it grow. It will continue to commemorate brave firefighters like Hamish. “
Pettit was killed when part of the hotel’s roof suddenly collapsed on the sixth floor of the building. This brought parts of each floor down to the second floor where Pettit was.
The fire was a significant fire, with 40 fire trucks eventually attending the scene and having been started on purpose. Upon arrival at the scene, firefighters had found over 30 people trapped by smoke and screamed for rescue from the windows of the six-story building.
The red poster scheme is funded by the FBU’s Firefighters100 lottery, which is a weekly online lottery set up to support firefighters, their families and to honor the bravery and sacrifice of firefighters killed in their service. Further details on this can be found here: https://ift.tt/3DKYMzC.
Post a Comment