Durack fire: Building goes up in flames in Brisbane’s southwest

Food, clothes and furniture that were sold at discount prices to Brisbane’s needy have all gone up in smoke in a fire at a church facility in the city’s southwest, just weeks before Christmas.

Food, clothes and furniture that were sold at discount prices to Brisbane’s needy have all gone up in smoke in a fire at a church facility in the city’s southwest, just weeks before Christmas.

Emergency services were called to the fire at the Citipointe Church Marketplace – an op shop that sells discount groceries, clothing, household items and furniture – on Freeman Rd at Durack just before 6.40am.

Six crews were on scene battling the blaze as the 1500sq m building was well engulfed, with huge flames and black smoke coming out.

Queensland Fire Department Incident Controller Matt Wallace, from the Durack station, said multiple calls were made over the fire.

“Some of the challenges to the crew was the intensity of the fire and the type of structure – a sealed metal shed,” he said.

The fire at the Citipointe Church Marketplace in Durack.

“It’s been completely an external attack at this stage … because of internal and structural collapse.

Mr Wallace said the local church community was devastated by the fire.

“It is very unfortunate, there was a lot of meals with Christmas coming up that they would provide to needy members of the community – so it is a big loss to them,” he said.

Citipointe Church Marketplace site manager and community pastor Kylie McDonald became teary when talking about items from the 600 hampers that were set to be given away over Christmas that were lost during the fire.

“We are just devastated by what happened this morning,” she said.

“We had a few items on site that we were collating for the appeal, so we’ve lost those which is really devastating - but we will rebuild.

“We have the best community, we have the best volunteers, we have a great clientele and I’m sure that there’s people out there who may be able to support us and help us through this time, so we can continue to support and help our community.”

Ms McDonald said their focus for now would be trying to find a place to operate for the next six months.

“At the forefront of our mind right now is finding a building for the next little while where we can take our items that we have made, whether we have much left, but go forward with, so we can still operate, we can still give people food, support our community, still have the facility running to some aspect,” she said.

“So we can still run and that way the community and the volunteers don’t lose out on that connection and that support.”

Ms McDonald said the marketplace was vital to the community.

“We are a meeting place, we offer free food every day, we have a beautiful op shop that's run as well, where we’re able to support our community in so many different ways,” she said.

Firefighters battle the blaze at Citipointe Church Marketplace.

The Citipointe Church Marketplace at Durack assists 10,000 people every month, providing 20-30 tonnes of free fruit and vegetables every week to those in need.

The marketplace is supported by 100 volunteers - including from community programs, as well as people on probation and parole.

Marketplace volunteer Yemane Tesffay was saddened by the fire.

“It is very, very bad,” he said. “I’m sad, this is a very good church community, with very good people.”

Local resident Victor Diaz and his wife were on their way to the marketplace to do some shopping when they were confronted with the scene.

“I don’t know what has happened here, my wife was coming here to buy food,” he said.

“A lot of people come shopping here.”

Mr Wallace said it will take some time to determine the cause of the fire.

“Crews will be on site for some time dampening down,” he said.

“Due to the extent of the fire, our fire investigation unit will be involved, as well as police forensic services to investigate the cause.”

No injuries have been reported.
A fundraiser has been established to support the Citipointe Church Marketplace in the aftermath of the fire.

Originally published as Durack fire: Building goes up in flames in Brisbane’s southwest