Fire at well-known Adelaide Hills brewery Grumpy’s at Verdun
A POPULAR micro brewery and restaurant at Verdun in the Adelaide Hills was gutted by fire on Friday morning. Now the cause of the $1 million blaze has been revealed. VIDEO AND PICTURES
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WELL-KNOWN micro brewery and restaurant Grumpy’s at Verdun has been extensively damaged by a big fire that has left a $1 million damage bill.
The MFS and CFS dispatched 12 trucks, as well as four other vehicles, to the renowned Adelaide Hills brewery after they received reports of the blaze at about 11.10am on Friday.
Crews arrived to find the structure completely engulfed by flames, a CFS spokeswoman said.
CFS Regional Duty Officer Wayne Bowman said there were three people in the building at the time the fire started — a chef, the owner and a manager.
He said the chef went to stoke the wood oven used for making pizzas which is left burning 24 hours a day and some ash escaped, igniting the blaze.
“From there the fire has escaped and got into the roof cavity,” Mr Bowman said.
He said the damage inside was “fairly extensive”, with the most damage caused to the wood oven itself at the back of the premises.
“The fire moved fairly quickly, being an 80-year-old building with dry timbers in there, so it’s moved along and through the roof cavity itself to affect the other parts of the building.”
All three people inside managed to escape, with the owner being checked by ambulance officers for unspecified injuries.
A firefighter was also injured in the fire while walking through the building and was taken to hospital with a twisted ankle.
“He was actually walking through the building, trying to contain the fire at the time,” Mr Bowman said.
He said the damage bill was likely reach $1 million, but assessors were yet confirm that figure.
Mr Bowman said the owners were insured, and had working fire alarms in the building which alerted them when smoke reached the roof cavity.
Twelve CFS and MFS trucks and 80 firefighters were called to the scene, and took about 45 minutes to contain the blaze.
Mr Bowman said local traffic on the road outside the building “slowed the progress of getting our crews to the fire”.
Grumpy’s Brewery originally opened in Aldgate in 1996 before relocating to Verdun in 2001.
A local institution, Grumpy’s is as well known these days for its wood oven pizza as its small batch beers made by Nick Schultz.
The owners declined to comment about the fire.
Mr Bowman said the loss of the pub was “absolutely” devastating for locals.
“It is an iconic pub, and I hope that the owner and staff can get on their feet quickly and rebuild,” he said.
Adelaide Hills Garden Supplies office administrator Emma Dutch said she saw flames leaping 5m above the building’s roof.
“It started off slowly, I thought it was just dust from the chimney and then it just gradually got bigger and bigger,” she said.
“I just saw the smoke coming out of the chimney and thought it was weird they would have the fire on, on such a hot day.
“Then I saw one of the girls panicking and running around so that’s when I knew (something was wrong).”
The garden business placed a sign outside their front gate, facing Grumpy’s, which read “Our thoughts are with you Grumpy’s”.
“Being so close to Christmas I really felt for them, it’s hard running a small business,” Ms Dutch said.
She said the local community was likely to “chip in” and help Grumpy’s rebuild.
“We are happy to help them with anything they need as well,” she said.
“Because it’s a German-orientated community, and obviously a German-orientated pub, it’s very popular with the locals, there’s a lot going on on the weekends there.”
The fire comes a fortnight after a blaze caused up to $400,000 damage to the cellar door at trendy winery Alpha Box and Dice in McLaren Vale. The popular winery has since reopened for business.
