| "Erinsborough High Fire" | |
|---|---|
| Neighbours episodes | |
 During the Erinsborough High fire, Brad Willis (Kip Gamblin) chooses to save his lover, Lauren Turner (Kate Kendall), over his wife, Terese Willis (Rebekah Elmaloglou), climaxing a love triangle storyline. | |
| Episode nos. | Episodes 7237 and 7238 |
| Directed by | Tony Osicka |
| Written by | Emma J. Steele, Alexa Wyatt |
| Original air date | 20–21 October 2015 |
| Running time | 42 minutes (2x21) |
| Guest appearances | |
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The "Erinsborough High Fire" is a storyline from the Australian television soap opera Neighbours that ran on 20 and 21 October 2015, airing over episodes 7237 and 7238. These episodes were broadcast on 4 and 5 November 2015 in the United Kingdom. The storyline sees the fictional Erinsborough High School engulf in a deliberately-lit fire, which leads to a long arson mystery. Involving half the cast, the storyline was Neighbours' big stunt event of the year and came about when Paul Robinson (Stefan Dennis) sells the school to Eden Hills Grammar for it to be closed, causing the staff and the students to protest in a school sleep-out. Many characters' have their storylines climaxed whilst being trapped in the fire, including the love triangle between Brad Willis (Kip Gamblin), Lauren Turner (Kate Kendall) and Terese Willis (Rebekah Elmaloglou) when Brad chooses to save Lauren over Terese. Expecting mother Amber Turner (Jenna Rosenow) and Susan Kennedy (Jackie Woodburne) are trapped in a classroom during the fire when Amber goes into labour and the two are forced to decide whether to "fight or flight" in "genuinely frightening" scenes.
Another storyline is the near death of Toadie Rebecchi (Ryan Moloney), who is in a wheelchair and is saved by his wife, Sonya (Eve Morey). Morey was glad with the storyline as it involved Sonya saving Toadie instead of the other way around. Sheila Canning (Colette Mann) overhears Toadie yelling for help, but leaves him to save herself, which results in her being "riddled with guilt". Mann thought that Sheila's decision was a sensible one and she was glad to be involved in the storyline after being a minor figure in the Erinsborough tornado the previous year. Producers were wary of triggering Mann's asthma during the filming of the storyline and so used fire and smoke machines with vapour, rather than real smoke. Boom operators were also incorporated to capture enhanced audio and the cast was only given limited access to the machinery behind the cameras. Both Mann and Morey thought the set looked very realistic and felt as if they were in movie studios. Woodburne described the day of filming as very busy and explained that it was easy for her to know "what Susan would be feeling", especially due to her real-life experience as a volunteer cook for firemen. The storyline received positive attention from critics, who thought it was a step-up from the tornado plotline, although one outlet criticised it for its lack of realism.