Erinsborough High Fire

Brad Willis and Lauren Turner, played by Kip Gamblin (left) and Kate Kendall (right), were central figures of a love triangle storyline during the fire.

Neighbours first teased the storyline through trailers on television and their YouTube channels. The storyline was established as one of the major plotlines of 2015. It sees a number of Ramsay Street residents get caught in a fire at Erinsborough High during a "fundraising drive" sleepout to stop the closure of the school.[1] The "dreadful" mayor, Paul Robinson (Dennis), is behind the closure of the school,[1] causing a disliking for Paul amongst many people, including Erinsborough High's principal, Susan Kennedy (Woodburne).[2] Woodburne said of their relationship with each other, "I enjoy the relationship that Paul and Susan have; they have a mutual respect for each other. They're very very different and Susan can see him for the scammer he is but she’s also seen the vulnerable side of him. I think that side of him is the one she connects to."[2]

Toadie Rebecchi (Moloney), who is bound to a wheelchair, becomes trapped in the fire. He becomes stuck upon being forced to lift himself out of his wheelchair to escape down the stairwell. His wife, Sonya (Morey), rescues him with the help of Stephanie Scully (Bonner), who has just returned to Erinsborough.[3] Morey said that she was "pretty excited" when she learned that she would be saving Toadie instead of him saving her as he has in the past.[3] Morey explained that Sonya arrives at the school during the fire, but struggles to find Toadie, "so she just runs off screaming". Morey explained that when Sonya finds Toadie, she struggles to pull him out of the fire "due to his weight and the smoke".[3] Morey said it was "really cool" to do work on the fire as it differed to regular work on the serial.[3]

Sonya is alerted of Toadie's location when Sheila Canning (Mann), a supervisor for the sleepout, tells her that she heard someone shouting out from down the corridor. Sheila makes a "very pathetic attempt" to help the person shouting for help, before abandoning them to save herself, which Mann described as "quite a sensible thing to do!"[1] She begins feeling "riddled with guilt" for leaving, especially when she discovers that it is Toadie who was trapped, so she "does a whole bunch of really nice stuff for the Rebecchis".[3][1] Sheila babysits their daughter, Nell (Scarlett Anderson), helps at Sonya's Nursery and helps Toadie book his appointments to repay them for leaving him, which the Rebecchis remain unaware of.[3] Morey explained prior to the broadcast of the fire in the United Kingdom that she had yet to film scenes where Sheila gives an explanation for all the extra help she has been offering.[3] Mann was "very pleased" to be incorporated into the storyline as she felt that she had "completely missed" 2014's tornado plot.[1] She also laughed at the fact that she has asthma and her character would be in a fire.[1]

Another plot that climaxes during the fire is the premature birth of Amber Turner's (Rosenow) congenital diaphragmatic herniac daughter, Matilda (Eloise Simbert).[2] Amber goes into labour while trapped in a room with Susan. Whilst speaking to Tenplay, Woodburne explained that Susan manages to stay calm during the "life or death situation" as she is "motivated" to bring Amber to safety.[2] She described it as overriding Susan's own panic and she called Susan "very frightened". She stated that for Susan, the situation is "unlike anything she has ever experienced before".[2] Susan and Amber are forced to decide whether to "fight or flight", with Woodburne saying, that "they both stay in the room and definitely die or they go through the flames and possibly have a chance." Woodburne believed that Susan and Amber were "at the peak of fear anticipating that escape" and thought that their decision to leave was driven by Susan's love for her own children and grandchildren.[2] As they are about to escape, the firefighters arrive and rescue them. The occasion marked the second fire Susan has been in.[2]

The love triangle storyline between Brad Willis (Gamblin), Terese Willis (Elmaloglou) and Lauren Turner (Kendall) peaks when Brad is forced to make a "terrible decision" on whether to save either Terese, his recently separated wife, or Lauren, the "love of his life" who he "adores".[4][5] Gamblin teased the plot in a behind-the-scenes video.[4] Fletcher thought that Terese was undeserving of Brad's actions.[6] Paige Smith (Valance) and Tyler Brennan (Burns) are also "at the centre of the drama" upon getting trapped in the lift, resulting in Tyler falling unconscious.[7] The culprit behind the fire is left unknown at the end of episode 7238 and when asked whether viewers would find out the identity of the arsonist immediately afterwards, Mann replied, "Oh no, of course not. It just goes on and on for a while until we find out who did it."[1] Aaron Brennan (Wilson), Jayden Warley (Oxenham), Sue Parker (Gorman) and Steph are all considered as suspects, the latter of whom is initially suspected by everyone as she is "randomly there at the school", which seems "weird".[1] Piper Willis (Hazel) and Ben Kirk (Mallard) reveal themselves as the arsonists a month later after feeling a "tremendous amount of guilt".[8]

Inside scenes of the storyline took a day to film, with the "sense of concentration on the set" being described as "really intense".[9] Outside scenes were filmed a week prior.[10] The make-up department padded down the actors with fake smoke before their scenes.[4] Scenes set in school corridors were shot in old Network 10 tunnels, where Prisoner was filmed, which gave Mann "flashbacks".[1] Various boom operators were used to capture audio,[2] while smoke and fire machines were incorporated for realism.[1] Mann recalled director Tony Osicka being very cautious of her asthma during the filming. All smoke machines used vapour instead of real smoke, which allowed Mann to not be affected, however made it so Mann had to pretend she could "see it all". During Mann's filming, the set was "flame-free and smoke-free" for most of the time and Mann said that doing stunts "was really fun to do" as big events on Neighbours do not occur often.[1] She admitted to constantly asking the producers on how to act and she said of her acting, "I'd like to say it was real but it wasn't."[1] Morey revealed that the cast was only given access to the special effects behind the camera at certain times.[3] She said the set looked like an actual fire and said that it felt as though it were a movie set. She added of it, "It was also nice to be working on a different set, rather than just filming in our kitchen at home or the coffee shop."[3] A scene involving an explosion that knocks out Terese and Lauren did not include any special effects and was all done in studio.[11]

Woodburne described the day of shooting as "very intense" and explained to a writer on Tenplay that there were numerous scenes shot in a row,[2] including scenes between Susan and Amber, which were all shot back-to-back.[12] She also said that there were lots of flames, fire and smoke and added that it was easy for her as an actor to "feel what Susan would be feeling".[2] Woodburne said the filming reminded her of when she volunteered as a cook for the firemen during the Black Saturday bushfires, which allowed her to understand how "catastrophic" fires can be.[2] Woodburne claimed that filming big storylines is what keeps the cast and crew going, and was also reminded of a film set. She called the cast "very intense and dramatic" whilst focused on their own storylines.[2] Due to the majority of Woodburne's fire scenes only being with Rosenow, the two were able to talk to each other about the plot and figure out how they wanted to act the story out, "moment by moment".[2] She admitted to not understanding how the characters would be feeling until being in the studio and called it "the most enjoyable day".[13] McGregor explained that there was "a bit of trouble" with the lift door that was required for scenes with Paige and Tyler, which delayed filming.[14]