‘NO VISIBILITY’ IN INTENSE FIRE
POLICE are investigating the cause of a fire that destroyed a popular business in a busy shopping precinct in Tweed Heads South.
Emergency services were called to Autobarn at the Homemaker Centre about 5.40am on Saturday after a passer-by noticed smoke coming from a roller door.
Fire and Rescue NSW Banora Point Fire Station deputy captain Jamie Bowe said the crew faced intense heat and thick smoke when they entered the business.
“When we were gaining entry, we’ve introduced oxygen to the building and the fire really started to expand, that’s when we got really busy at that point,” Mr Bowe said.
“There was thick black smoke and high heat in there, so our crews had to withdraw because there was no visibility.”
About 35 firefighters from Banora Point, Tweed Heads and Murwillumbah battled the blaze for nearly three hours before extinguishing the fire, Mr Bowe said.
“We had to fight it from outside and kept that up until we obtained control and were able to move back inside and actually do salvage and overhaul operations, and extinguish hot spots.
“Everyone did great, I was very impressed and we received good feedback.
“It was one of those incidents where we all left feeling good about what we had achieved,” he said.
“It could have definitely have been much worse — we could have had the whole store up.”
A Fire and Rescue NSW spokesman said there was structural concerns for the Autobarn building, which has been closed to the public.