Firetrap safety fears
AUTHORITIES fear another Childers-style fire disaster could erupt in illegal Innisfail backpacker hostels that are cramming up to 15 people into a room.
Surprise inspections of more than 20 hostels and residential homes revealed beds blocking fire exits, deadlocked doors, dangerously overloaded electrical power points and exposed wiring.
Cassowary Coast Council officers also found one unregistered hostel charging up to $150 a week to sleep on makeshift mattresses on the floor.
It is understood many of the illegal hostels target Korean tourists hired to work on banana farms.
Mayor Bill Shannon said he was shocked by the findings and described it as "exploitation of the worst order".
"We don't want to see another Childers," he said. "This is very, very serious so we're looking to find out who is behind these operations, either the owners or the real estate agents.
"We fully support the council's environmental health team in closing these places down."
Nine women and six men were killed in the inferno at Palace Backpackers Hostel at Childers in southeast Queensland in June 2000.
The hostel was refused a fire safety permit 17 months before the fire, with beds blocking exits and an inadequate fire alarm system.
The council's environmental health manager Geoff Wilson said officers found about 12 residential houses were operating as unregistered and illegal hostels.
"The two main issues are that some licensed premises are not up to standard and a number of residential houses are illegally being used to accommodate large numbers of people," he said.
"Once there are more than five unrelated people in a house you need to have different fire standards and be registered and many of the places we inspected aren't properly equipped to do that.
"Some of them are major fire risks.
"We need to make sure we avoid another tragedy like Childers."
Itinerant worker Robert Paul Long was sentenced to 20 years without parole for the murder of West Australian twins Kelly and Stacey Slarke in the fire. Long received an additional 15 years for lighting the hostel blaze.
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Disaster: The gutted Palace Backpackers at Childers. The hostel was destroyed and 15 people died in a fire in June 2000.
Fire concerns: Surprise inspections of more than 20 hostels and homes at Innisfail found beds blocking fire exits, overloaded power points, exposed wires and overcrowded rooms.
Fire concerns: Surprise inspections of more than 20 hostels and homes at Innisfail found beds blocking fire exits, overloaded power points, exposed wires and overcrowded rooms.
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