Shock arson attack hits family business hard
A pregnant Tasmanian mother of two and family business owner says she woke in the middle of the night last week to an arson attack.
Business
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A PREGNANT mother of two and family business owner said she woke in the middle of the night last week to an arson attack.
Audrey Lakaev said she and the chef in her adjoining Geeveston bed and breakfast business Bears Went Over the Mountain grabbed extinguishers and a hose to try to douse the flames.
She said her family were safely sleeping in other rooms, despite her mother-in-law usually sleeping in the now burned out room.
“We’re friendly with everyone in town and we have no enemies,” she said.
“I thought it was just some sort of hair straightener left on, but it wasn’t.”
CCTV showed two vehicles pulling up outside the back of the building and a man throwing accelerant and a flammable object onto the roof at 12.30am last Thursday.
Mrs Lakaev said fire crews were “fantastic” in containing the flames, which threatened to ignite the adjacent Geeveston Pharmacy.
She said the small town community has responded with shock and surprise.
“The Geeveston Op Shop called me up straight away,” she said. “They let me go up there and get a crib and bedding supplies for the kids.
“The community is really nice (and) really supportive.”
She said the bed and breakfast resumed operations the following day, but the back building containing personal belongings, bedding and office documents suffered fire damage estimated at $80,000.
“We only finished renovating around Christmas and were literally weeks away from getting everything approved and getting insurance,” she said. “Unfortunately, the bushfires last year did impact the business.
“The Tahune Airwalk closed, so my husband had to take another job last year to refinance.”
She said police were investigating the incident and she is hopeful the business will recover.
“We’ll be keeping a fire alarm in every room, that’s for sure,” she said.
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