On April 13, 1978, Senior Constable Fred Richards had finished his shift and had arrived at the Sandgate RSL to join his off duty police mates for a well earned drink. He did not get very far into the club before he heard the siren of a passing fire engine. Once outside he could see smoke and guessed that the fire was not far from the Sandgate Police Citizens Youth Club, housed within the old Sandgate Beach Theatre. Fred and his mates, ran towards the smoke and flames to discover the PCYC building fully alight.
Richards assisted with the evacuation of residents from the neighbouring flats and after a member of the assembled crowd voiced concern that there were still two children in the burning building, he along with several firemen, tried to enter it. Just as Fred tried to make his way into the building, the theatre roof collapsed pinning him to the ground. Fourteen firemen and police officers were needed to pull him free from the wreckage. Fred’s injuries were very severe: two of his fingers were so badly injured they had to be amputated, his skull was fractured on both sides, many of his ribs were broken, his pelvis fractured, his right arm and right leg severely burnt and broken. Senior Constable Richards spent a considerable amount of time fighting for his life in the Royal Brisbane Hospital.
Two seven year old boys admitted to accidentally starting the fire while playing with matches. Luckily no one else was injured and no one was killed.
Fred was interviewed sometime after the event and told the journalist that he could not remember anything about the incident or the following three weeks spent in hospital. He was most insistent that no one call him a hero and said “It was just part of the job. All the others did the same. Quite a few were off duty, too, and anyone could have been hurt”.
Senior Constable Fred Richards spent 375 days off work recovering from his injuries. He returned in 1979 as a Sergeant within the Police Communications Centre. In July 1981, Sergeant Richards, was presented with a Commissioner’s Favourable Record for dedication to duty, initiative and resource for his actions on the night of April 13, 1978.
Fred retired on March 24, 1986 to try his hand at prospecting and fossicking for gold, sapphires and opals. He passed away in 2006 at the age of 74.
At the time Fred Richards was injured, police officers received no compensation for injuries sustained on duty. His case was a significant factor in bringing about State Cabinet’s decision of September 1982, to extend provision of the Worker’s Compensation Act to members of the Queensland Police officers.
This information has been supplied by the Queensland Police Museum from the best resources available at the time of writing.
The Police Museum is open 9am to 4pm Monday to Thursday and 10am to 3pm on the last Sunday of the month (Feb-Nov) and is located on the Ground Floor of Police Headquarters at 200 Roma Street, Brisbane.
Contact: E: museum@police.qld.gov.au
“FROM THE VAULT: Just part of the job…” by the Queensland Police Service is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution (BY) 2.5 Australia Licence. Permissions may be available beyond the scope of this licence. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.5/au/legalcode