Blimp blast leaves ‘Great wall of Frankston’ protesters with serious burns

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Two campaigners fighting bayside high-rise developments they fear will create the “Great Wall of Frankston” are taking legal action after their red protest blimp exploded and caused them severe burns.

Frankston Beach Association members Paul Cavanagh, 76, and Erminio Rossetto, 77, were reinflating the airship with a garden air blower in March when hydrogen gas inside the balloon ignited and exploded, court documents state.

The red blimp that was used to protest against the Frankston building developments.

The blast put Rossetto, the 2022 City of Frankston senior citizen of the year, in intensive care for several months, according to those who witnessed the aftermath.

The blimp was filled with gas by Airship Solutions Pty Ltd, which is now the subject of a negligence claim over what went into the balloon and what advice was provided to keep it in the sky.

Rossetto and Cavanagh are part of the community opposition to two high-end apartment buildings planned for Frankston, one 14 storeys and the other 16 storeys, which, if approved, would overlook Kananook Creek and the beach from Nepean Highway. The buildings are both the subject of legal action.

Residents fear the planned developments would cut off the rest of the bayside community from the waterfront, creating “the Great Wall of Frankston”. The towers have also been denigrated as a “cool-climate Surfers Paradise”.

An artist’s impression of the 14-storey apartment building proposed for 446-450 Nepean Highway, Frankston.Credit: Urban DC

As part of the community action, locals sent an airship high above the area’s beaches emblazoned with the words “Stop the Great Wall of Frankston”.

According to a statement of claim filed in the Victorian County Court in July, the Frankston Beach Association organised to have its own airship inflated with helium gas by Airship Solutions.

Instead, the blimp was allegedly filled with a mix of helium and hydrogen, a flammable gas notoriously blamed for the 1937 Hindenburg disaster.

The ignition in the Frankston blast was allegedly caused by a spark from a leaf blower used to reinflate the balloon.

Blimp explosion victim Erminio Rossetto (centre) when awarded the Frankston City senior citizen of the year in 2022. He is pictured with Mayor Nathan Conroy and councillor Sue Baker.

Court documents state that Cavanagh and Rossetto received advice on how to keep the ship airborne when a representative of Airship Solutions attended to apply the protest decals on the balloon.

“During this conversation, [director] Mat Tubb of the defendant said ... words to the effect that the inflatable blimp would lose 2-3 per cent of its volume every day, and to ‘top it up’; a garden air blower could be used,” court documents state.

On March 7, Cavanagh and Rossetto attempted to refill the airship when it exploded.

Among the negligence claims is that Airship Solutions failed to advise that it had supplied a mix of hydrogen and helium gas.

The men also claim that Airship Solutions didn’t provide them with a safe way of reinflating the blimp.

Court documents state that the explosion caused total body burns to the head, face, arms and legs which required surgery and skin grafts. Both men were left with permanent scarring.

Rob Thurley, chairman of the Kananook Creek Association community group, said the blimp was successfully used to help block another development of a marina at Oliver’s Hill in Frankston.

“It’s in the middle of the Frankston, it was summer and you would see it up in the skies,” Thurley said.

An aerial view of the site for the proposed buildings, on land between Nepean Highway and Kananook Creek.Credit: Eddie Jim

”Is it a bird? Is it plane? No, it’s a blimp. It was [a] talking point, people noticed it. But we didn’t want anything like this to get noticed.”

Thurley said Cavanagh and Rossetto suffered horrible burns, which involved a long recovery after stints in the intensive care unit.

“Both men are home and doing their rehab, but they’ll never be the same,” he said.

“Minio [Rossetto] is truly an amazing community man – he did not deserve to get blown up.”

The blimp when it was previously flown above the Frankston foreshore.

Tubb declined to comment when contacted by The Sunday Age. Airship Solutions is yet to file a defence in the court case.

Lawyer Alex McCulloch from Henry Carus and Associates, the firm representing the injured men, said: “There was an explosion, they both suffered horrific injuries. We have commenced proceedings.”

The pair is seeking damages, including medical expenses.

Planning Minister Sonya Kilkenny recently intervened in the “Great Wall of Frankston” fight, applying an interim overlay preventing any development over three storeys until at least October 27.

The move was celebrated by community activists and condemned by property developer Urban DC’s founder, Danny Ciarma, who said the minister’s intervention would “undermine investment confidence in the whole state, not just Frankston”.

“I’ve spent the last 18 months working with council and the council planners very closely in formulating a design that meets the proposed structure plan in every way,” he said after the minister’s intervention.

“It’s not for some disgruntled local NIMBYs to put their thoughts forward and have their wishes granted to the detriment of the greater good.”

The Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal was set to decide the fate of the proposed buildings before the minister’s intervention.

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