INFERNO DESTROYS SHED
Homeowner counts cost of East Toowoomba fire
LAURIE Moore could do little but look on as fire tore through the shed at the rear of his home.
An explosion was the first he knew the structure was on fire, racing outside to move his daughter’s coffee van.
“There’s about $40,000 worth of stuff in there ... all gone,” he said.
It was one of two structure fires in the region Tuesday night.
EAST Toowoomba’s Laurie Moore was yesterday counting the total loss of his shed after an inferno destroyed a lifetime of tools Tuesday night.
Mr Moore’s Leonard St home was spared any damage but his 9m x 7m shed and its contents at the rear of the suburban property were destroyed.
“There’s about $40,000 worth of stuff in there ... all gone,” he said.
Among the rubble and ash yesterday was the burnt-out frame of a Nissan Navara ute he’d bought four months ago and had planned to travel in with his wife later this year.
A fridge and items stored inside the shed belonging to his daughter Marissa Moore’s business Steam Scene were also destroyed, along with valuable word-work tools.
Mr Moore, who has lived at the property since 2006, was first alerted to the fire when he heard an explosion and raced outside.
With barely minutes to spare, he managed to reverse the mobile barista van from the shed but was unable to save his ute.
“If I had only been 10 or 15 minutes before I would’ve got it out but just didn’t get there early enough,” Mr Moore said.
Neighbours tried desperately to battle the blaze with garden hoses until Queensland Fire and Rescue firefighters arrived on scene just after 7pm.
“I’m thankful to the neighbours for all their help and what they did,” he said.
Queensland Fire and Emergency Services Inspector Peter Bradow said initial investigations suggested the fire started in the south-eastern corner of the insulated shed.
“The distance between each property is quite narrow, however crews have managed this fire quite well and prevented further damage to those properties,” he said.
Firefighters managed to prevent two gas cylinders inside the shed from exploding after other explosions were heard coming from inside the structure.
QFES fire investigators yesterday were still working to determine the cause.
It was the second structure fire in the Toowoomba region late Tuesday after a machinery shed at Westbrook about 6pm.
Insp Bradow said responding fire crews were forced to break their way into the shed at the Toowoomba Karara Rd property
Farm machinery was badly damaged in the inferno, as well as grain products, Insp Bradow said.
“There is machinery that has been damaged at this point,” he said.
No injuries were reported from either fire.