Construction site next to Newmarket State School on fire
Police are appealing for witnesses over the fire that destroyed a 100-year-old heritage-listed former police station that formed part of an under-construction childcare centre in an upmarket suburb.
QLD News
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Police are appealing for witnesses after a massive blaze broke out at a childcare centre construction site, destroying a heritage-listed building.
Firefighters batted into the night to contain the blaze in Newmarket, with four crews attending a daycare centre currently in construction.
They were called to the fire on the corner of Banks Street and Enoggera Road at 11pm on Wednesday, with a Queensland Fire and Emergency Services spokesman saying the structure was well involved in flames upon their arrival.
🔥 SMOKE ALERT 🔥
— Qld Fire & Emergency (@QldFES) September 23, 2020
Hey Brisbane! Crews are currently on scene at a structure fire along Enoggera Rd, Newmarket which is causing a fair bit of smoke in the area. If affected, residents should close windows and doors and motorists are urged to drive with caution and to conditions. pic.twitter.com/yVYHjvyDTd
“It was a pretty big operational effort,” a QFES spokeswoman said.
One half of the Pod Early School, which was due to open in January, 2021, has been destroyed.
The original building has been completely gutted by the fire, and the roof of adjacent new building has been damaged.
The building that was destroyed was built in 1907 and had previously served as a police station and sergeants’ accommodation.
Building Site Manager Gary Denman said the buildings had been under construction since March and was set to be completed in November.
He first heard about the blaze when he turned up for work on Thursday morning.
“It wasn’t good, especially the work that has gone into the old police building, it’s heritage listed, 100 years old,” he said.
Pod Early School co-owner Marco Ferro said they were about two weeks away from finishing the heritage building’s renovation.
He said the construction was designed around preserving the building’s original features.
“It’s disheartening that Brisbane has lost a bit of history,” he said.
“The heritage building we spent a lot of time and money on getting it to its original form, we were very proud of that history there.
“It’s opening up in January and it’s already 50 per cent filled.
“It’s devastating, but it’s business as usual as soon as we understand what they want us to do.”
QFES Acting Inspector Joe Pope said about 40 firefighters attended the scene and managed to extinguish the fire about 2am and protect the neighbouring Newmarket State School.
“They went straight into exposure protection which means protecting the buildings around the actual structure that’s on fire to stop the spread,” he said.
“The fire spread through the roof and into the new building.”
He said police scenes of crime teams as well a fire investigators were on site to determine the nature of the incident and the fires point of origin.
“The fire investigators are working on that, but due to the large amount of damage we’ll see how far we can get.
There has been no indication that the fire was being treated as suspicious, but several windows appear to have been smashed in.
Police are appealing for witnesses after investigators were unable to determine the cause of the fire due to the extensive damage.
Anyone who was in the vicinity of Enoggera Road between 10pm and 11.30pm and who may have footage has been asked to come forward to police.
