BLAZE MYSTERY
Blaze so intense that cause may never be known
A BLAZE that destroyed an old state emergency service building at Montagu Bay was so intense the cause will never be known, the Tasmania Fire Service says.
The fire at Conara Rd in front of Montagu Bay Primary School was reported about 7.20pm on Christmas Eve, and took about an hour to bring under control.
After an investigation yesterday, the TFS said the cause of the $500,000 blaze could not be determined as the building was so badly burnt.
Incident controller Michael Netherton said there were some LPG cylinders in the building, at least one of which exploded.
He said the bottles could have potentially caused an issue.
“We did have some people sightseeing in the area having a look. It didn’t take us too long to remind them that it wasn’t a good place to be and they soon vacated,” he said. “If someone had been close, anything is possible.
“From our perspective it is something that we expect in fires of this nature, and there are some telltale signs for us to look out for and to listen for.”
About 25 firefighters, including volunteer crews from Risdon Vale and Rokeby, tackled the blaze at its height.
The building was unoccupied at the time of the fire.
No-one was injured in the fire, nor was any damage done to properties in the vicinity.
Jonathan Rochester saw the fire from Lutana.
He and his 10-year-old niece Chloe Lincolne went for a closer look when crews began to bring the fire under control.
“At first I saw the smoke and thought it was coming off the bridge, and at that stage it was just smoke, and then we saw flames and we could see that it was from below the bridge,” Mr Rochester said.
“Because Chloe, my niece, goes to this school, we thought maybe the school was on fire.”
Chloe was glad that wasn’t the case.
“It was a relief, I didn’t want our school to be on fire,” she said.