In 1962, Kerry Kyriacou was born on the same lot where his and his brother’s joinery shop had stood, until just days ago, when he watched it go up in flames.
“It’s horrendous. To watch your life and your home get burnt,” he said of last Thursday night’s fire at an industrial block in Woolner, just 4 kilometres from Darwin’s CBD.
Their father, who immigrated to Darwin from Cyprus, first started the business more than 60 years ago.
Impressions from his childhood, playing on the dirt road that backed onto the charred lot on Jolly Street, filled a now empty space for Mr Kyriacou as he looked over the inferno’s carnage.
“Your life has flashed before you,” he said.
“I’ve lost all my memories … my clothes, my photos all gone. You can’t replace that sort of stuff.
“I walked away with just the shirt I was wearing, that’s it.”
A lifelong Territorian, Mr Kyriacou now faces the unthinkable reality the personal cost of the night could surpass Cyclone Tracy, which destroyed the workshop in 1974.
The fire has left new impressions on the 60-year-old.
“It was like a giant running on the roof. Bang, bang, bang,” he said.
“I looked across the back wall and there was smoke coming through … I realised this place was on fire.”
After saving two of his classic cars and a work van, he tried to put out part of the fast-moving blaze, before having to flee for his own safety.
“I just couldn’t take it from the smoke. I was just coughing and spewing,” he said.
The burnt-out lot is also home to another operation, an auto-electric shop, that has been leasing its part of the property from the Kyriacous.
Following the fire, both sites have been slated for demolition.
Mr Kyriacou said he is now not sure where he will be able to sleep long term: he had built a bedroom and living area, now reduced to ash, on the Jolly St lot.
Northern Territory Police said it is still investigating the causes of the fire.
A large-scale response from firefighters on the night prevented the flames from spreading to other businesses along the street, police said.
Like in the aftermath of Cyclone Tracy, the Kyriacou brothers are vowing to restore what their father started before they were born.
“We’re going to keep battling. Cyclone Tracy tried to bring us down. This fire tried to bring us down. We’re here. We’re Territorians. I was born here I will keep fighting for this place.”
