Wheelchair racer Luke Bailey had just got home from a training session and was on the phone to his mum when he heard alarms and sirens outside his Wickham home.
"As soon as I opened the door I got the big whoof of heat and saw all the glass smash across the road and I was like, 'Oh no, here we go,'" he said.
Bailey, who lives alone and does not drive, grabbed a T-shirt and his phone.
"I could see my life ending because it was so close to the fuel depot and I didn't know if the firies could actually save it in time or control it," he said.
The fire broke out on Tuesday afternoon at the former woolstore buildings in the harbourside suburb of Wickham, sending plumes of black smoke across Newcastle.
One hundred firefighters managed to contain the blaze to two woolstores, which housed several businesses and a storage facility.
They are now in danger of collapse.
Still smouldering
Firefighters are still trying to douse remaining hotspots, Fire and Rescue NSW Chief Superintendent Terry Farley said.
"Those buildings are rather large — four levels, and those four levels have collapsed on each other and the fire is still burning underneath those levels," he said.
"The rain is helping us at the moment."
He said firefighters stopped the blaze spreading to a fuel storage depot 30 metres from the burning buildings.
"That could have been catastrophic," Chief Superintendent Farley said.
Hundreds of residents were evacuated from surrounding streets yesterday.
Many spent the night with friends and family or at a church that was used as an evacuation centre.
Asbestos fears
Newcastle Police District Commander Wayne Humphrey said asbestos contamination was a concern for surrounding residents.
"We have received reports that to the west of the fire location there could be some asbestos contamination of residences and schools," he said.
"As the rest of the state prays for the rain to go away, we're actually pretty happy it's raining at the moment, because it's wetting down asbestos — so that rain is welcome at the moment.
"There will be a specialist clean-up of Milford Street and we're doorknocking that area.
"You need to keep your windows on the eastern side of the building closed.
Detective Superintendent Humphrey praised the bravery of firefighters first on the scene.
"It's not just a storage facility — there were a number of affected businesses," he said.
"All those people and the building manager did a sterling job getting everyone out without injury or loss of life.
A police strike force has been established to investigate the cause of the blaze.
History up in flames
The former woolstore buildings are more than 80 years old and local conservation groups were trying to get them ready for adaptive reuse.
A development application to convert one of them for residential use had recently been rejected due to its proximity to the fuel depot.
Barney Collins, a local architect with EJE who specialises in heritage conservation, says it is a huge loss for Newcastle's history.
"I think one of the buildings that was lost was the earliest large woolstore and it was built for a company called the New Zealand Loan Company Woolstore," he said.
"They were large timber buildings with a brick facade all the way around to protect the wool, and three to four floors of them, all storing huge bales of wool, which leaked lanolin into the timber, which means they're very flammable."
