Two Gagebrook house fires deemed arson | Person trapped in car after Glenlusk crash
Crash blocks North-West highway | Motorist critically injured in single-vehicle crash | Police investigate a second deliberately lit house fire in Gagebrook. LATEST BREAKING NEWS >>
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Crash blocks lane of highway – Don
3.40PM SATURDAY MARCH 27
Police are attending a crash on the Bass Highway at Don involving a truck and a car.
No injuries have been reported in the incident but the left lane of the west-bound lanes is currently blocked.
Motorists are asked to avoid the area if possible.
The road was cleared about 4.40pm.
Driver trapped in crashed car– Glenlusk
UPDATED, 4.20PM SATURDAY MARCH 27
A woman is in a critical condition in the Royal Hobart Hospital after a single-vehicle crash this morning.
Police and emergency services were called to Glenlusk Road, Collinsvale, just after 9.50am after a Subaru station wagon left the road, slid down an embankment and collided with some trees.
The female driver, a Collinsvale resident in her 20s. was the only occupant of the vehicle.
Glenlusk Road was closed for 2½ hours while the scene was cleared.
The driver of the Subaru remains in the Royal Hobart Hospital in a critical condition.
The cause of the crash is being investigated.
Anyone who may have witnessed the crash is asked to call the Glenorchy Police Station on 131 444 or you can provide information to Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000 or at crimestopperstas.com.au
Second house set alight – Gagebrook
11AM SATURDAY MARCH 27
Police are investigating a deliberately lit house fire in Gagebrook overnight.
It is the second house fire in the area in as many days.
About 1.40am on Saturday, emergency services responded to reports a house on Walker Crescent was fully alight.
Tasmania Fire Service extinguished the blaze and investigators have determined it was deliberately lit.
Police would like to speak to anyone who has information in relation to the fire or suspicious activity in the area around the time.
Information can be provided to police on 131 444 or Crime Stoppers anonymously on 1800 333 000.
Fire destroys nearly completed house – Gagebrook
2PM FRIDAY MARCH 26
BUILDERS have been left hundreds of thousands of dollars out of pocket after an almost completed dwelling was torched, allegedly by teenagers, overnight on Friday.
The home, only weeks away from handover was left in tatters, with all its windows smashed, insulation battens hanging from the ceiling and extreme fire damage to the roof.
Emergency services received multiple triple-0 calls around 11pm on Thursday night, and arrived to find the house on Sattler St, Gagebrook, fully alight.
Tasmania Fire Service extinguished the fire and investigators have determined it was deliberately lit.
The estimates for the damage to the home range between $150,000 to $350,000.
Sam Plaschke, Wilsons Homes general manager, who was overseeing the construction said unfortunately it wasn’t the first time it had happened.
The company has three builds underway in the Gagebrook area, with more to come.
“We get a lot of theft and vandalism. In the last twelve months this is the second arson attack we’ve had,” Mr Plaschke said.
“It’s very difficult, I think the police have a rough indication of who it may be but it’s very difficult to find and prosecute (them).”
He believes the fire was lit by local teenagers, who also used drugs on the site.
Ben Setchell, Wilsons Homes project manager said other homes in the neighbourhood had suffered the same fate.
“More vandalism than theft (at the other sites),” he said.
“They’ve just basically ripped everything off the wall, put everything in a pile and up it went.”
The home will need to be pulled down to the footings, and construction began again, Mr Setchell said.
The whole dwelling will need to be replaced, as repairing or cleaning any of the construction was “unfeasible”.
“The home was only two-to-three weeks away from handover,” Mr Plaschke said.
Wilsons Homes have built around 200 homes, mostly social and affordable housing in the Gagebrook area.
Originally published as Two Gagebrook house fires deemed arson | Person trapped in car after Glenlusk crash
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