Man Injured During Dudley Break-In

 BY IAN CROUCH

A man has been left with serious leg injuries after a break-in at Dudley over the weekend.

Police say four people forced their way into a home on Tumut Street around 4.00am on Saturday and attempted to steal a motorbike.

They were confronted by neighbours and following a struggle, fled in a vehicle, striking a 42-year-old man.

He was taken to the John Hunter Hospital in a serious but stable condition.

Police say the four culprits were males aged between 15 and 20 who fled in a turquoise-coloured Volkswagen T-Cross.

Bush Fire At Dudley "Deliberately Lit"

 BY IAN CROUCH

Quick work from firefighters has prevented an early-morning bush fire at Dudley.

Newcastle Fire Command says they received two triple-oh calls from passers-by at 4.40am on Thursday to a large area of bush reserve alight at the corner of Ocean Street and Redhead Road.

A crew from Charlestown arrived to find a 50 X 20 metre area of bush alight, taking about 15 minutes to douse the flames.

Police say an unregistered trailer carrying a hot water system was found in the centre of the fire ground, suggesting the blaze was deliberately lit.

Residents evacuated after fire at Dudley unit complex

BY DAKOTA TAIT

A unit has been destroyed by fire and neighbours evacuated at Dudley on Tuesday morning.

Eight Fire and Rescue NSW crews arrived at the scene after 8:30am, finding flames and smoke pouring from the windows of a unit.

They quickly managed to contain the fire, though the home could not be saved.

No one was home at the time, and no one was injured in the incident.

It's unclear what ignited the blaze, but police and fire are investigating.

The unit complex at Dudley.

Dudley Community Throws Support Behind Local Fire Victim

BY IAN CROUCH

The Dudley community is reaching out to a neighbour who lost his home in a devastating fire last week.

As we reported last Thursday morning, Barry Grant's three storey home on The Anchorage went up in flames just after midnight.

One of Barry's beloved dogs, Mini was unaccounted for and is still missing.

Barry is now staying with a neighbour while temporary accommodation is found.

The community has rallied around their much-loved neighbour, starting a Go Fund Me page which has so far raised almost $37,000.

You can donate here: Go Fund Me

Dudley resident Barry Grant lost his home and
 one of his beloved dogs Mini is still missing

BREAKING! Home Destroyed By Fire At Dudley

BY IAN CROUCH

A home has been destroyed and a dog is unaccounted for after a devastating house fire at Dudley.

Seven fire trucks and a Hazmat unit were called to the three level brick and tile home in The Anchorage just after midnight on Thursday to find the rear of the home well alight.

The flames quickly spread, with the entire home involved in fire.

It's taken crews more than 4 hours to extinguish the fire.

It's understood the sole male occupant managed to escape unharmed, however an 18 month old dog remains unaccounted for.

Police have set up a crime scene as investigations into the cause of the fire continue.

Watch as firefighters battled the flames overnight:-

 

Dudley Residents Left in the Dark Over Mobile Outage

BY DAKOTA TAIT

Dudley residents say they have been left without mobile phone service for more than a week due to a service outage in the Telstra network.

3G and 4G outages have reportedly also affected the Mount Hutton, Windale, Redhead and Whitebridge areas.

While the Telstra website says the outage was caused by a technical issue in Telstra's network, reports of when will be back up and running are unconfirmed.

Dudley resident Corey Gleeson says he spoke to a Telstra employee at a local tower this morning - and was told repairs were being conducted on the tower and that it would be fixed later this afternoon.
In the meanwhile, residents have had to make do without a mobile connection.

"With no service, you have no contact with anybody pretty well outside the tower range," said Mr Gleeson. "The moment that you get in your car and get out of the area and connect to another tower, you get bombarded with messages and missed phone calls."

Mr Gleeson is hopeful the service will be fixed soon, but says customers have been "left in the lurch" and without any promise of compensation.

"If I pay for a month's service, and I've had three weeks of pretty high interruptions, I thought that constituted something getting compensated for customers."

The outages are still currently ongoing. Telstra is yet to provide a comment.

Image credit: https://outages.telstra.com.au/

Car stolen by teens; crashed at Dudley

BY LAUREN FREEMANTLE

Four teenagers have been arrested and police are searching for a fifth offender after a car was allegedly stolen in Lake Macquarie before being driven through Dudley and hitting a tree.

Around 4am this morning, police and emergency services responded to a fire at a public reserve at the intersection of Redhead Road and Ocean Street, Dudley.

When they arrived, they found a Toyota RAV4, believed to be stolen, had crashed into a tree and burst into flames.

Witness reports revealed five teenagers had fled the vehicle shortly after the crash, and, with help from the Dog Squad, police tracked down four of the teens nearby.

They were taken to Belmont Police Station, where an 18-year-old man and a 17-year-old boy were charged with being carried in conveyance; while a 14-year-old girl was issued a caution under the Young Offenders Act.

A second 14-year-old girl was released without charge, while the Toyota in question was completely destroyed by the blaze.

Anyone with information about the fifth person is urged to contact Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000.