Morgan Palliaer speaks about the Red Deer Cafe, Esk Gift Shop being destroyed by fire

A popular cafe in the heart of a country town beloved by locals and travellers alike was destroyed by fire in the early hours of the morning

The Red Deer Cafe in Esk was destroyed by fire in the early hours of Sunday morning. Photo: Callen Lewis

A POPULAR cafe in the heart of a country town beloved by locals and travellers alike was destroyed by fire in the early hours of the morning.

Firefighters received the call about a blaze at the Red Deer Cafe at Esk in the Brisbane Valley just after 1.30am on Sunday.

A Queensland Fire and Emergency Services spokeswoman said the building on Ipswich Street was “well involved” in flames when firefighters arrived.

Fire investigators are at the scene on Sunday morning to probe the cause of the blaze.

Paramedics remained on standby but there were no injuries reported.

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The owner of the building, Morgan Palliaer, said it was devastating as the cafe was one of the biggest employers in town.

Her Esk Gift Shop business was also housed in the building.

Ms Palliaer was woken up a bit after 2am after receiving a call from another resident to alert her to the fire.

“It was a pretty significant employer in the town,” she said.

“That’s one of the real tragedies here. People are going to be without a job now.”

Ms Palliaer said it was a sad day for the small town and called on the community to dig deep to support the owners of the Red Deer Cafe, who are reeling from the tragedy.

She thanked the local fire brigade and residents who tried to save the building.

Ms Palliaer bought the building six years ago and ran an antique furniture building out of the shop.

“Due to some family things we couldn’t keep running the business,” she said.

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“The girls from Red Deer took over.

“They were at another spot in town but lost that and had nowhere else to go.

“I should to them you should run the cafe here. They’ve been there about four or five years. Time has flown.”

New Season’s Church Esk is collecting funds to support those impacted by the fire.

“Insurance will not cover half what they have in losses both personally and in business and so if (you) would like to financially help out our church is raising funds as a not for profit for them in this loss,” they wrote on Facebook.

“All money will go straight to the girls to help get them back on their feet and the doors open.”

Bank details are below:

New Season’s Church

BSB: 633 000

ACC: 169727559

Reference: Red Deer

Read more stories by Lachlan McIvor here.

Originally published as Morgan Palliaer speaks about the Red Deer Cafe, Esk Gift Shop being destroyed by fire