{"id":89267,"date":"2026-09-06T11:06:11","date_gmt":"2026-09-06T11:06:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/89267\/"},"modified":"2026-09-06T11:06:11","modified_gmt":"2026-09-06T11:06:11","slug":"mt-barkers-caitlin-speedy-trapped-in-bali-after-her-party-balloons-spark-restaurant-blaze-burning-teen-son","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/89267\/","title":{"rendered":"Mt Barker\u2019s Caitlin Speedy trapped in Bali after her party balloons spark restaurant blaze, burning teen son"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"css-9cqv6l-StyledPNParagraph e8utp6u0\">A WA woman who purchased party balloons which exploded and set a popular Bali restaurant on fire \u2014 leaving her teenage son with burns to his face and arms \u2014 says she felt she\u2019d been sold a \u201cticking time bomb\u201d.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-9cqv6l-StyledPNParagraph e8utp6u0\">The 17-year-old was among diners caught up in the blaze that ripped through Chez Gado Gado on Sunday night, forcing dozens to flee as flames engulfed the building.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-9cqv6l-StyledPNParagraph e8utp6u0\">Mt Barker resident Caitlin Speedy said she bought the party balloons for her mum\u2019s 70th birthday celebration.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-9cqv6l-StyledPNParagraph e8utp6u0\">She had assumed they contained helium and was shocked when they burst into flames.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-9cqv6l-StyledPNParagraph e8utp6u0\">\u201cI have no idea how they exploded, it just went up,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-9cqv6l-StyledPNParagraph e8utp6u0\">Ms Speedy said the balloon seller denied responsibility, saying they would have filled the balloons with helium if that\u2019s what she\u2019d asked for from the start.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/073015be2da40eca9ac02f25ad48da8ea5c6b2f7.jpg\" alt=\"WA mother Caitlin Speedy was left \u2018horrified\u2019.\" class=\"css-16r7l45-StyledImage en5ut4d0\"\/>Camera IconWA mother Caitlin Speedy was left \u2018horrified\u2019. Credit: 7NEWS\/7NEWS<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-9cqv6l-StyledPNParagraph e8utp6u0\">\u201cI was horrified,\u201d she said. \u201cI felt like they had literally sold me a ticking time bomb.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-9cqv6l-StyledPNParagraph e8utp6u0\">As the diners fled for their lives, Ms Speedy said she ran back towards the flames.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-9cqv6l-StyledPNParagraph e8utp6u0\">\u201cI just looked at my family and said, \u2018I\u2019ve got to go back\u2019 and I ran straight through, I just didn\u2019t want anyone to die,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-9cqv6l-StyledPNParagraph e8utp6u0\">While her son is now out of hospital, Indonesian authorities have stopped the family from flying home, seizing their passports.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-9cqv6l-StyledPNParagraph e8utp6u0\">Ms Speedy said being trapped on the island made the family feel like criminals.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-9cqv6l-StyledPNParagraph e8utp6u0\">\u201cWe\u2019re only pulled in as witnesses, and yet we\u2019re still being treated differently,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/7c6bf3d18680c88314c85ec3390988b2dd4c227b.jpg\" alt=\"Chez Gado Gado in Seminkyak, Bali.\" class=\"css-16r7l45-StyledImage en5ut4d0\"\/>Camera IconChez Gado Gado in Seminkyak, Bali. Credit: Surya_Udayana\/7NEWS<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-9cqv6l-StyledPNParagraph e8utp6u0\">\u201cI don\u2019t think we should be held here. There were 300 people in the building, like everyone else essentially is a witness.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-9cqv6l-StyledPNParagraph e8utp6u0\">\u201c(Our) next step is to try and sort out with immigration as to why we\u2019re not able to leave.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-9cqv6l-StyledPNParagraph e8utp6u0\">Indonesian authorities believed the blaze started after flammable gases in a party balloon exploded.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-9cqv6l-StyledPNParagraph e8utp6u0\">On Monday, a social media post by Villa Mataraz Bali warned guests that balloons were \u201cno longer permitted anywhere within Mataraz Villas\u201d.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-9cqv6l-StyledPNParagraph e8utp6u0\">\u201cBalloons may be filled with hydrogen, a cheaper alternative to helium. Hydrogen is highly flammable,\u201d the post read.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A WA woman who purchased party balloons which exploded and set a popular Bali restaurant on fire \u2014&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":89268,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[335,464],"class_list":["post-89267","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-perth","tag-perth","tag-wa-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/89267","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=89267"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/89267\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/89268"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=89267"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=89267"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=89267"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}