Jump to content

Savoy Hotel fire

Add links
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Savoy Hotel fire
Map
Date25 December 1975 (1975-12-25)
VenueSavoy Hotel
Location
TypeFire
Deaths15
Injuries25

The Savoy Hotel on Darlinghurst Road, Kings Cross, Sydney, Australia was set alight by a serial arsonist on 25 December 1975 with the loss of 15 lives.[1] It was the deadliest hotel fire in Australia at that time.

The fire

[edit]

On 25 December 1975 the four story Savoy was packed with local workers and holiday makers. At 5:00 a.m., Reginald John Little, a 25-year-old cook and a petty thief stood at the rear entry door to the basement. He was angry.

He had an arrangement with his Leichardt-based lover Warren to have dinner and stay the night. Warren had stood him up.[1]

As a guest of the hotel he had a key for the back door. Inside, to his right, was a stack of used newspapers. He lit them and went up to his room, number 33.[1] The fire, starved of oxygen, smouldered for half an hour. The night watchman alerted by smoke opened the front door. This resulted in a backdraft with the fire racing to the ground and first floor.[1]

The only internal egress points, the front and rear stairs were impassable due to the heat and smoke.[1]

Out of the 60 guests in the hotel, 15 died, including 5 on the 3rd floor.[1] Many people were found badly burned in their rooms or corridors, some charred beyond recognition.[2][3][4]

Perpetrator

[edit]

Prior to the fire in 1975, Reginald Little had been convicted in other arson cases, including setting a shop on fire in New South Wales and setting a billiard table on fire at a club after he had been let go from a job.[1][5]

Little was charged with four counts of murder and a fifth count of maliciously setting fire to a dwelling house knowing the caretaker was in residence.[1] On each of the four murder counts the judge sentenced him (separately) to life imprisonment and ‘penal servitude’ for 14 years from 14 February 1976.[1]

Little was at the low-security St Heliers prison farm where he served as a captain of a New South Wales country bush fire brigade. When there were no fires he did fire reduction work such as burn-offs. The fire control officer in charge had heard rumours that he was an arsonist, but did nothing to confirm this. He was ordered back in full-time custody when Corrective Services Commissioner Ron Woodham was informed in 1993.[6][5]

He was released on parole from Silverwater jail on 12 May 2010, despite never having admitted to the crime.[7][8][9]

[edit]

The Savoy Hotel was owned by alleged crime boss Abe Saffron. He also owned the building next to it, then housing the Pink Panther strip club with upstairs a brothel called the Kingsdore Motel.[10] In 1989 this building, then the Downunder Hostel, burned down with the loss of six lives.[11] Saffron has been linked to seven other fires.[12] There is no proof he orchestrated any of the rumoured fires.[1]

References

[edit]
  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Plunkett, Geoff (2026). The Burning Desire: The True Stories of Australia's Deadliest Serial Arsonists. Big Sky Publishing. pp. 1, 122, 124, 110, 130, 112, 141, 147, 69. ISBN 9781923514805.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: date and year (link)
  2. ↑ "14 die in hotel holocaust". Sydney Morning Herald. 26 December 1975. p. 1. Retrieved 10 September 2012.
  3. ↑ "Australia: 14 People Die in Christmas Day Hotel Fire | Archive Footage". ITN Source. 27 December 1975. Retrieved 10 September 2012.
  4. ↑ Janet, By (13 May 2010). "The burning desire that left 15 people dead". Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 10 September 2012.
  5. 1 2 Marks, Kathy (5 April 2014). "Arsonist who killed 15 worked for fire service in prison release". The Independent. Retrieved 27 December 2020.
  6. ↑ Kennedy, Les (24 April 2010). "Murderer gets parole after 34 years in jail". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 27 December 2020.
  7. ↑ "25.12.75". Retrieved 10 September 2012.
  8. ↑ "Fire Practice For Savoy Arsonist". Bush Fire Brigades. 24 April 1993. Retrieved 10 September 2012.
  9. ↑ Les Kennedy (25 April 2010). "Murderer gets parole after 34 years in jail". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 10 September 2012.
  10. ↑ [link removed]
  11. ↑ "Across Border Kings Cross Blog". Mydarlinghurst.blogspot.com. 30 May 2011. Retrieved 10 September 2012.
  12. ↑ "Niece links Abe Saffron to Luna Park deaths". The Sydney Morning Herald. 26 May 2007.
[edit]
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Savoy_Hotel_fire&oldid=1369114315"