Dental clinic fire guts staff
It was the last thing a small business needed on the first day of alert level 1.
It was meant to be a day of relief and excitement for the team at Vivian Street Dental.
But any notions of returning to business-as-normal yesterday were swiftly singed by scorched walls, soot and the smell of smoke.
Firefighters were alerted to a fire at the Palmerston North clinic at 7.23pm on Monday by a woman walking nearby. Three fire trucks from Milson and Palmerston North rushed to the blaze.
It had started outside the rear of the building under a carport, and spread inside the dental clinic, through a window, fire investigator Murray Kidd said.
Practice manager Wendy Wells said the fire ‘‘annihilated’’ one of the walls and covered everything in soot.
The clinic wouldn’t be able to
reopen at the site for three to four months.
The clinic had partially reopened in the fourth week of alert level 4, for emergency procedures and, like many health practices, struggled to access personal protective equipment.
Financially, coping through Covid-19 had been difficult, but that wasn’t the clinic’s main concern, Wells said.
‘‘Martin [Badenhorst], the dentist, he worries about his patients. We don’t like letting them down.’’
She had been busy all yesterday, calling patients and cancelling their appointments.
‘‘I’m just completely lost. Everyone’s just so gutted for us.
‘‘We’ve just got to work through it but it’s devastating to our business.’’
Alternative sites to operate from are already being offered, and any temporary premises would need plenty of planning, Wells said.
Authorities are concerned the blaze may be linked to a string of fires at abandoned homes in the city.
A few blocks away on Church St, two abandoned houses were destroyed in suspicious fires on
March 21 and April 11.
‘‘We’re calling it suspicious because of the fire in Church St. We’re just a bit concerned that it may be tied,’’ Kidd said.
He called on anyone who may have seen anything suspicious in the area about 7.15pm on Monday to contact police.
A scene guard was stationed in front of the clinic through the night on Monday. The front window, which had been smashed in by firefighters, had since been fixed.
Patient Jeanette Ansell, who was booked in for an appointment at the clinic this Thursday, drove past the scene on Monday night.
‘‘It’s a small business with people who have been there for years, and all that equipment is so expensive. It’s awful.’’
‘‘I’m just completely lost. Everyone’s just so gutted for us.’’ Wendy Wells
Vivian Street Dental practice manager