Dramatic bodycam footage captures police officers' heroic rescue mission during huge caravan blaze

Newly-released footage captures the heroic response of nine brave police officers who saved the life of a resident during a large caravan fire in Cranbourne. The video, captured on body-worn camera, shows the dramatic incident where the nine officers arrived on the scene and put their own lives on the line to save the victims. All nine officers have now been presented with commendations for their heroic efforts - which are visible in the footage.

'We all could have died that night'

Sergeant James Greehy, who was a PC at the time of the fire, said: “In all my years as a frontline police officer, this is the first time I have actually looked back and reflected that we could have all died or been seriously injured that night. I can honestly say that every single officer’s actions that night came from and was acted on pure instinct and without a second thought for ourselves. We all did what we felt needed to be done to save lives.

“We were all there for each other that night, acting as one and a true team. To see that from my colleagues, especially with so many so young in service, makes me immensely proud of every single one of them.”

Caravan exploded and police rushed to the scene

In the early hours of 2 January 2021, a member of the public reported to police that a caravan was on fire and had exploded at Cranbourne Hall Park. Nearing the end of their already exhausting 12-hour-long New Year’s Day late shift, every officer in the team that dropped what they were doing and rushed to the scene.

While en-route, further information came in shedding light on the major incident they would soon find themselves embroiled in.

Flames were rising high into the air

Approaching the scene, the sky turned to a glow of orange with flames rising high into the air. Sgt Moore, who was then a PC, and PCs Spear and Price were the first responders on scene and arrived to dozens of bewildered residents lining the streets of the site.

They immediately began giving instructions to residents to clear them back away from the fire - which was rapidly growing, spreading across other properties and engulfing the road. The flames and heat were so intense that it effectively cut off the crowd from the safety of the rendezvous point for all emergency services, making it difficult to get vital medical supplies to treat victims.

Second explosion sent 'fireball' into the sky

However, there was then a huge secondary explosion from fire, caused by a 25-litre propane gas cylinder inside the caravan. The blast sent an enormous fireball in excess of 50 metres into the sky, knocked several of the officers who were with the victim to the floor, and caused debris to cascade down in all directions, some of which nearly hit PCs Brewster and Screen.

The Thames Valley Police Chief Constable, Jason Hogg, presented commendations to Sergeants James Greehy and Alex Moore and PCs Jasmine Brewster, James Clifton, Adam Price, Peter Screen, Dominic Spear, Reece Stansbury and Rachel Walsh.