Police Update: June 3

 Fire in Merriwa:

There was a fire at a house in Bettington Street, Merriwa at approximatley 6.20am yesterday morning which blocked both lanes of the Golden Highway for 3 hours.

The victim of the fire went to the premises where he heard a loud bang from the area of the electrical power board fitted to an external wall.

When the victim opened the front door of the house the inside was full of smoke that appeared to be coming from the rear of the house.

They quickly drove back to their workplace and raised the alarm for emergency services to attend.

Fire crews attended and started extinguishing the fire, police arrived shortly after.

Fire Officers found that asbestos fibro sheeting formed part of the construction of the house and placed an exclusion zone of 50 meters from the house which blocked both west and east bound lanes of the Golden Highway.

The fire took 3 hours to extinguish and once the area was checked and considered safe by fire officers the Golden Highway was reopened.

The victim spoke with police to help investigate a possible cause with particular information regarding heating appliances which commonly cause fires in the colder months.

A cause of the fire was not able to be established and no suspicious circumstances were identified surrounding the incident.

The fire appeares to have started in the rear room of the house and has damaged the whole house, the rear section of the house has been deemed structurally unsafe due to the damage.

Stealing/Scone:

A ladies wallet and contents has been stolen from a handbag left in the managers office of the Scone Library yesterday.

The items were taken between 10.00am and 5.30pm with no idea of how or who perpetrated the crime.

Search warrant at Scone:

Shortly after 4pm yesterday police conducted a search warrant in Scott Street, Scone.

During the course of the search a 31 year old Scone man was issued a Court Attendance Notice (CAN)to appear at Scone local Court on June 23 for the possession of cannabis found at the house.

There was an amount of cash also seized by police, enquiries are being conducted regarding the cash seizure.

A 30 year old Tarro man at the house was found to have an outstanding warrant and was arrested and taken to Muswellbrook Police Station.