Boy lights fire in Narellan Woolworths barbecue aisle

A BOY playing with matches caused more than a price check in aisle eight — almost $3000 worth of damage in fact — and forced a cashier to fight the fire and the Narellan Woolworths supermarket to be evacuated.

A young boy ignited a blaze at Narellan Woolworths on Monday night, forcing the store to be evacuated.

A MISCHIEVOUS child playing with matches disrupted dozens of grocery shoppers and caused almost $3000 worth of damage at Narellan Woolworths supermarket on Monday night.

A young boy lit a fire in the barbecue aisle resulting in thousands of dollars of damage, with items such as napkins, plastic plates, grill brushes and matches set alight.

The boy, aged between five and seven, ignited the fire in aisle eight.

Police said the fire was contained to one metre of shelving, but reached a peak height of just below the supermarket’s lights.

Customers were forced to evacuate the store after the fire alarm was triggered.

A Woolworths Narellan cashier acted swiftly, grabbing a fire hose and putting out the blaze.

Camden Police Area Command crime manager Detective Inspector Jayne Doherty said both police and Fire and Rescue NSW attended the incident.

“Police attended and attained a 10-page list of stock that was lost as a result of the fire,” Inspector Doherty said.

“The total cost of lost product was just short of $3000.

IN OTHER NEWS:

“Police are chasing up CCTV vision to try and identify the child and the parent responsible for the child. We remind parents they are responsible for their children.

“The incident could have created a safety issue but lucky for the quick work of a Woolworths employee the fire hose was used and put out the fire resulting in the fire not being able to spread.”

A Woolworths spokeswoman praised the work of the staff members at the scene.

“The safety of our customers and team members is our number one priority,” she said.

“Our team acted quickly to evacuate the store in line with our established safety procedures.

“The store is trading now as normal for our customers.”