Plenty fire: Ray White among businesses ravaged by blaze

Investigators are still trying to determine what sparked a fire that tore through three Plenty businesses on the weekend, as staff described their narrow escape from the blaze.

The Ray White office was gutted by the huge blaze in Plenty on Saturday.

Investigators are still trying to determine what sparked a fire that tore through three Plenty businesses on the weekend, as staff described their narrow escape from the blaze.

More than 60 firefighters worked into the night as a fire ravaged three Plenty businesses last Saturday afternoon.

And while the fire is believed to have started in a dental surgery on Diamond Creek Rd before tearing through two other businesses in the same building, investigators still haven’t pinpointed a cause.

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Staff at Ray White real estate agency had just returned to the office at 3.30pm when they smelled smoke coming from the clinic next door.

Within 20 minutes, fire had engulfed the whole property.

Ray White Plenty director Narelle King said the fire moved so quickly “within 15 minutes, we knew weren’t be able to salvage anything”.

“It took hold pretty quickly and by the time the firemen arrived, it had pretty much taken over.”

Emergency services battled the blaze until 11pm and returned in the early hours of the next morning to make sure the fire had been fully extinguished.

Fire crews check out the damage to the Ray White building in Plenty.

The cause of the fire is still under investigation.

Plenty Fire Brigade captain Adrian Marshman said MFB and CFA crews worked well to get everything under control.

“It was well alight internally because within minutes of us getting there the fire was already getting through the roof,” he said.

Ms King said, thankfully, it was now essentially business as usual.

“Thankfully, our stock isn’t in the office. We’ve got Cloud-based systems and a lot of us can work from home,” she said.

“Phones have been diverted. “

Ray White Plenty can be contacted on 9435 8866.

@JessCoates4

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