Australian Groups

Lot 5621       Australian Groups

Estimate $20,000
Bid at live.noble.com.au
SOLD $13,000

GROUP OF FIVE. Star of Courage; Bravery Medal; National Medal; Royal Humane Society of N.S.W. Bronze Medal; N.S.W. Fire Brigade Conspicuous Bravery Medal. 5032 Kevin James Fletcher. All in cases of issue. Engraved. Good very fine.

On 1 April 1990, a fire broke out in the Boral Liquid Petroleum Gas storage facility at St. Peters in Sydney. N.S.W. Fire Brigade units from Alexandria and Newtown attended this fire, which was finally brought under control after a nine hour battle. At one stage it was reported that a firefighter could not be located within the fire area and District Officer Alan Dwyer and Senior Firefighter Kevin Fletcher drove into the facility to search for him. During their search, a 40,000 litre storage tank suddenly exploded, sending a fireball hundreds of metres into the air. The firemen, despite being close to this explosion and in extreme danger, continued their search which was eventually successful. In 1992 at Government House Sydney, both were eventually awarded the Star of Courage for this incident. On 19 April 1994, two cars collided at the corner of Dean and Kiewa Streets, Albury N.S.W., the 59 year old woman driver in the front vehicle being trapped by her leg. A LPG gas tank in the boot of her car exploded, engulfing the car in flames. Off-duty firefighter Kevin Fletcher, now stationed in Albury was nearby and ran to assist. Entering the burning vehicle twice, he eventually freed the injured driver, being seriously burnt himself in the rescue. On 9 September 1994, Fletcher was awarded the N.S.W. Fire Brigades Conspicious Bravery Medal for this rescue. He was also awarded the Bravery Medal in September 1995 and the Royal Humane Society of N.S.W. Bronze Medal in October 1995 for this exploit. On 30 October 1996, at the Albury Central Fire Station Kevin Fletcher collapsed and died. He was 49 years old. His funeral was attended by hundreds of fire fighters Statewide and many friends. Together with: professionally produced video tape of recipient being interviewed and relating his experiences on national television and news footage of both incidents and recipient's funeral; and newspaper cuttings including colour photographs of recipient, relative to all incidents.