Forensics teams at the scene today.
Police have outlined the horrific aftermath of a drug lab fire in which two badly burnt men desperately tried to cool themselves by jumping into a nearby swimming pool and then a shower.
Superintendent Julian Griffiths said one man, 40, was undergoing emergency surgery and a second man, 37, was still in an induced coma at Royal North Shore Hospital, after they suffered extreme external and severe internal burns when the Australia Rd garage turned-drug lab exploded in a quiet Barden Ridge street before 8pm on Sunday.
“Both the males had sought to render themselves first aid by using her swimming pool and also the shower,” Supt Griffiths said.
“There was an explosion and then a large fire that would suggest the laboratory has been a catalyst for this fire.”
Forensics teams investigate the scene. Picture: Attila Szilvasi. Source: News Limited
Horror scene...Fire Brigades officers at the house. Source: News Limited
Police prepare to canvass the area. Source: News Limited
He said the 40-year-old’s “condition has been listed as critical best described as grave”.
A trail of blood through the home was a result of the pair using the shower to treat themselves not from other injuries, Supt Griffiths said.
The pair were driven to Sutherland Hospital by the homeowner, Joe, 41, who didn’t phone triple 0 when the fire broke out.
Police confirmed the garage was a suspected drug lab but wouldn’t say which drug, speed or ice, was possibly being made there.
They also wouldn’t say if the trio were known to police or if the home was also known to police.
“The initial investigations have identified the presence of equipment for the manufacturer of prohibited drugs,” Supt Griffiths said.
Supt Griffiths couldn’t confirm if one of the injured men was Joe’s brother but only that two of them lived at the address.
He said having a drug lab in the leafy southern Sydney street was a concern.
“It is of extreme concern not only in quiet residential areas, but any area that people would manufacture prohibited drugs,” he said.
A team from the drug squad’s chemical operations unit, Hazmat firefighters and a NSW Health Department’s Forensic Analytical Science Service chemist, dressed in protective suits, made their first “safety assessment” of the burnt out two-storey garage after 10am.
Remnants of the lab, such as beakers, were brought out and catalogued.
A drug squad officer said it would take time to determine if the explosion was caused by a possible drug lab but the “circumstances pointed to it” this morning.
There were no vehicles in the garage only a few mag wheels, but police couldn’t rule out if high octane fuel associated with drag racing could be another cause.
Joe is believed to be well-known in the drag racing world.
One of two injured men is understood to be Joe’s younger brother.
A Fire Brigades officer prepares to enter the house. Source: News Limited
Police crime scene officers outside the house. Source: News Limited
A female neighbour said she was also shocked by the possibility a drug lab had been operating out of the suburban garage.
“That’s terrible, just really shocking,” she said.
“Maybe something exploded with the cars. It’s just a big shock.”
Another neighbour, who didn’t want to be named, said she knew Joe, who lived at the two-storey brick home had spoken to him yesterday.
She said a neighbour banged on her door shortly after the fire started, which the woman described as firecrackers going off, telling her to evacuate.
“Then I smelt this smell but didn’t worry about it until I got a bang on the door,” she said.
“The smell was coming through the house it was like an acidity smell.
“It (the fire) was raging for a while, there were seven fire trucks and seven police.”
The woman said Joe was a mechanic and former race car driver and had been working on building a car in or near the garage.
She said this is why he may have driven the severely injured pair because of his driving skills.
“He’s a racing car driver, he’d be quicker than an ambulance,” she said.
“One of the neighbours went to get them out and there was blood throughout the house on the tiles. There was no one there.
Police outside the home in Barden Ridge. Source: News Limited
Hazmat crews remained on standby during the morning. Source: News Limited
Another officer enters the home. Source: News Limited
“One of them was his brother I know that for a fact. His brother is the worst.”
The neighbour said she was shocked the fire may have been caused by a drug lab.
“I couldn’t believe he’d be involved with something like that, he’s a family man, he’s lovely, would do anything for anybody. Helps his neighbours out, always helping people,” she said.
“I was talking to him for an hour and a half out the front yesterday. He was very upset about a break up that’s all I can say.”
Teenager Joseph Katf and some friends came out to watch the fire after hearing a car was on fire.
“There was heaps of smoke. There was like a weird, chemical smell. It started wafting out after,” he said.
He said while he wasn’t aware of any drug labs or dealers in the neighbourhood he wasn’t surprised there may have been one nearby where he lived because “it’s near Menai”.
Another teenager who lives nearby said he saw the trees of surrounding properties catch fire.
“It was a slow burning fire. I didn’t hear any explosions,” he said.
“They said somebody was hurt by the pool and there was blood everywhere.”
The boy’s father, who didn’t want either of them identified, said it was a quiet Sutherland neighbourhood.
“Barden Ridge isn’t a place you would think you have too much riffraff, it’s a nice area.” he said.
“Drugs is everywhere isn’t it? If that’s what it is.”
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