Emergency services called to Molendinar brothel, Pentagon Grand after fire
A tradie, who was working next door, sprung into action when a bio-waste bin was set ablaze at a Gold Coast house of sin, allegedly by a disgruntled former worker.
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A hero tradie who has saved a Gold Coast brothel from an alleged arson attack is being offered a gratitude voucher from the thankful operator.
Emergency services raced to Molendinar’s Pentagon Grand at 4.45pm on Tuesday after being alerted to the blaze - believed to have been ignited by a disgruntled former worker - but a tradie working next door had already sprung into action.
Pentagon Grand manager Suzanne Pfeifer said a bio-waste bin full of used condoms was set ablaze in the back of the Jade Drive business, coming dangerously close to the brothel’s gas tanks.
Ms Pfeifer said the “hero tradie” next door rushed over to the flames and extinguished them before they could cause serious damage.
“He’ll get a nice gift certificate from Pentagon Grand to use however he pleases, he really saved us,” she said.
“Even though he had it under control quickly, we still had to get all our clients and girls out of the bedrooms and out the front, everyone was outside standing around in towels.”
Ms Pfeifer said the incident occurred during a relatively quiet Tuesday afternoon, when a former sex worker pulled up in a taxi, allegedly setting a sheet on fire at the back of the business and placing it in the bio-bin.
Ms Pfeifer said one of the workers noticed the blaze on the security monitors and she ran outside where she called to the tradie for help.
“It was so lucky that we saw the fire on the monitors. Normally I’m not sitting at that desk and normally the girls can’t see the monitors, but everything was a little different because of the former worker suddenly showing up in a taxi,” she said.
“I was actually trying to help her, she seemed upset but not at all violent. I was trying to find some phone numbers she could call for help.
“But then she just sort of wandered off out the back to the smoking area, she knows where everything is, and I thought she was just calming down.
“A few minutes later, one of the other girls pointed to the camera and said ‘Oh my God, there’s a fire out there’.
“She had taken the sheet off the couch out there, set it on fire and put it in the bio-bin with all the condoms and rubbish and it was blazing. It was really close to the gas, so we were incredibly lucky.
“I raced around the side of the building to deal with the fire and the tradie out the front was just amazing.
“He got around there and he already had the extinguisher and he took care of it.”
A Queensland Fire Department (QFD) spokesperson said one crew attended the incident after reports of a wheelie bin on fire.
The spokesperson confirmed the fire was put out by people on scene before they arrived.
A Gold Coast police spokeswoman said there had been no complaint from the business owner but investigations were ongoing.
Ms Pfeifer said she was relieved no one was hurt and there was not any major danger but it had still shaken everyone.
She said while her line of work was rarely boring she was not prepared for that level of excitement.
“At least when Silks was burned down no one was in there,” she said.
“But it’s actually lucky we were here - otherwise it would not have been a happy ending.”
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Originally published as Emergency services called to Molendinar brothel, Pentagon Grand after fire
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