UPDATE, WEDNESDAY 2.30PM:
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THE site of a blaze in Taminda is still under police guard and too hot for forensics personnel to start their work.
A police source said officers were continuing their preliminary investigations into the fire at Carey’s Freight Lines in Avro St, which started late on Monday night.
They said the crime scene would remain in place until the locally based forensics crew was able to access it.
The fire will be deemed suspicious until its cause is known.
A report will be prepared for the state coroner, whose role includes ensuring the proper investigation of fires and explosions.
Fire & Rescue NSW zone superintendent Tom Cooper said the collapsed structure would still have “pockets of fire smouldering down deep in there”.
“When they get a dozer in there to start to excavate the site, we’ll probably get called back again …
“The roof caved in, so the stuff down below will continue to smoulder until it runs out of fuel or gets cleared out.”
UPDATE, TUESDAY 5.30PM:
A CRIME scene has been established and the incident is being treated as suspicious until investigations prove otherwise, after a major blaze in Taminda.
Fire & Rescue NSW extinguished the fire at Carey’s Freight Lines and handed the Avro St site over to NSW Police by 3pm.
Power had been restored by 1.45pm.
Because of the extent of the damage, a report will be prepared for the coroner.
UPDATE, TUESDAY 11AM:
EXCAVATOR operators have started demolishing the building’s facade as a fire still burns in Carey’s Freight Lines in Taminda.
Fire & Rescue NSW zone superintendent Tom Cooper said the firefighters on scene had been reduced to two crews from 452 in East Tamworth and one from 508 in West Tamworth.
He said the demolition would allow them to “gain access to the seat of the remaining fire”.
“Obviously fire investigators are keen to have a look in there once we get the facade down, so we’re still going to be here for a little while to come,” he said.
Power was still off to about 77 premises in the surrounding area, according to Essential Energy’s northern community relations manager, David Crough.
“Shortly before midnight, we switched the power off to 289 mostly businesses around that area to ensure the safety of emergency services and the public,” he said.
“Most of them had power back by about 12.40pm, then a few more during the night, and we’ve now reduced that to 77.”
Mr Crough said Essential would await instructions from emergency services as to when it would be safe to restore power to the rest of the area.
“Our priority is to ensure their safety,” he said.
Neighbours’ sympathies
Business people in the area said they’d been working as best they could without power, but their real concerns were for the Carey family and their staff.
Peel Valley Removals owner Paul Parry said his business had been affected by road closures.
“We have one truck that does a mail run at three o’clock in the morning, and he had problems getting in,” he said.
“When he explained what he was doing, though, they let him come and get the truck and take off.
“We normally start here at 7am but had to wait until they cleared the road at 8am.
“We’re soldiering on, but it is getting a bit hot in here without airconditioning.”
Mr Parry, who lives near second-generation business manager John Carey, said his thoughts were with the team.
“It would be a nightmare for them,” he said.
“What were John’s words? ‘Nothing like a challenge’.
“They’ll come back bigger and stronger, I have no doubt.”
Ian Barnes of Barnco Automotive Repairs said he’d had “a lot of clientele” booked in this morning, and being without power would “push us a bit back”.
“I’ve been taking phone calls and ringing people all morning,” he said.
“We’re always a bit busy at this time of year because of country music [festival]; it starts getting a bit busier.”
He said the Careys had been friends and clients for decades.
“It’s just such a shame to see this sort of thing happen,” he said.
“We can get by, but I feel really bad for them at the moment.
“We’ve been here for 35 years and they’ve been here longer than us, and they’ve always brought their vehicles down here for services.
“I feel bad for the employees, too.”
TUESDAY, 6AM:
Firefighters remain at the scene of a blaze that destroyed a Taminda warehouse and its contents on Monday night.
Emergency services were called to the Avro St depot about 11pm after reports the building was well alight.
It’s understood the building housed a distribution centre, office and showroom with crews unable to save the building when they arrived.
Fire and Rescue NSW, Tamworth zone Superintendent Tom Cooper said about 65 fire fighters were at the scene and rural fire service crews called in from as far as Manilla and Werris Creek to assist in pumping water to help fight the blaze.
Fire and Rescue NSW crews from Gunnedah were called to man Tamworth station while local firefighters were on scene.
“The damage is extensive,” Superintendent Cooper said.
“We don’t know what the cause of the fire is until it cools down.
“We will make an assessment of the building’s structural stability to determine if we can enter.
“When crews arrived, the fire was through the roof.
“It was a well developed fire and has gutted the whole building.
“There was a heavy fire load.
“One part of the warehouse was stacked with pallets – it was a two level storage bay with pallets all the way to the roof.
“The fire got into the next part of the warehouse that contained a whole lot of goods waiting to be distributed.
“There must have been aerosol type products among them because there was a number of explosions through the course of the fire.”
Superintendent Cooper said the front facade of a showroom in the building had collapsed.
Firefighters were able to stop the blaze from spreading to neighbouring buildings.
“The fire was contained in five hours, but it’s still going to take a while to extinguish yet,” he said.
“But the good news is, no one was injured.”