Fires in Scone this Weekend

LOCAL fire and rescue crews were busy over the weekend, with call outs to two fires and another to assist ambulance with rescue equipment.

Car Fire

The first fire was reported at 12:10am on Saturday with a car alight in Birrell Street, Scone. The car was completely destroyed and the fire crew had extinguished the fire within 20 minutes and left the scene by 12:55am.

Helping a Patient

On Saturday afternoon at approximately 2:15pm, a crew was called to McDonald’s in Scone to assist ambulance who were there to treat a 50 year old male patient who had collapsed in the bathroom. The fire crew used their rescue equipment to remove a bathroom door so that ambulance could reach the patient.

Fire at Blooms

At 10:45pm on Saturday night crews were called to a fire at the Blooms Automotive work shed in Muffett Street, Scone.

The fire completely destroyed the inside of the shed, including 13 cars, valuable car repair equipment and paints.

When crews arrived they described one corner of the shed alight, which spread to it engulfing 80% of the shed.

Due to the highly flammable paints and thinners in the workshop crews had to fight the blaze from outside the shed.

Fortunately, the fire was not a threat to other nearby buildings.

By 12:15 fire crews had extinguished the fire and handed the scene over to police for further investigation.

Barney Whitehead, who owns the building, said he estimates the damage could be up to $2million.

The shed was built in 1979 and unfortunately Barney has been through this scenario twice before, once in 1985 which was found to be arson and another shed in 2012.

He said the costs aren’t just the damage caused to the building, but for the business leases, there is the ongoing cost of loss of turnover while they arrange for another shed to start work again.

Barney also said it had been a great shed to work in because doors on each side of the shed could be opened to ventilate, during the heat of summer.