The news of two men who died in a fire that swept through offices in Lyneham made the front page of The Canberra Times on this day in 1968.
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The two men were discovered less than 15 feet from an open stairway to safety in an office on the corner of Northbourne and Macarthur Avenues.
John Jambor, 47, a sheet metal worker and engineer Peter Cuckow, 27 were both married with two kids.
They succumbed to asphyxiation when thick, black smoke filled the first floor toilet in which they were working.
Three fire tenders were at the scene quickly where firemen recovered the first man within five minutes and the second only minutes after.
An off-duty nurse, firemen, ambulance crew and civilians tried to revive the men using oxygen, artificial respiration and cardiac massage.
The fire was believed to have started when soundproofing material was sprayed near a kerosene heater, which caught fire and spread due to flammable hessian and tar paper fixed to windows and doors in the building.
Between 60 and 70 men were working in the building at the time of the fire, but only two other men were injured when they jumped from the second floor after the explosion.
