Business fire shock

By Jo Kennett

FIREFIGHTERS HAVE contained a blaze in a commercial unit at Tweed Heads South on Tuesday, July 4 at 7.30am.

Firefighters from Fire and Rescue NSW Banora Point and Tweed Heads raced to the scene after reports of a building fire at 21 Enterprise Avenue.

Fire and Rescue NSW Tweed Heads Station Officer Pete Raftery said a unit, home to a fruit and vegetable wholesaler with a warehouse next door, was on fire when they arrived.

“There were large volumes of black smoke coming out of the mezzanine on the first floor of the unit and it was threatening the building next door,” Station Officer Raftery said.

“We had a crew in breathing apparatus and put them into defensive attack.

“They took the hoses in with them up to the mezzanine level via the stairs.

“There was an office space on the mezzanine level that was totally destroyed by fire.”

Station Officer Raftery said that downstairs there was a fridge area and next door had storage for fruit and vegetables.

“The guys did really well getting it under control within five or ten minutes, but it takes a bit of time to extinguish it completely,” he said.

“That probably took half an hour and then we waited around to make sure it didn’t spark up.

“We also accessed the units next door to make sure there was no fire spread.

“One was open and the owner of the other one arrived on the scene and opened up but there was no fire spread.”

Two fire trucks from Tweed and one from Banora were on scene to fight the fire.

“A couple of the Banora guys went in to make sure there was no fire extension and their captain was the fire officer,” Station Officer Raftery said.

“Tweed Police and NSW Ambulance also attended.

“Police always come to do traffic control and fire investigation which is usually a joint operation with Fire and Rescue NSW.

“The energy authority came to shut off the electricity to make it safer for us.

“Once it was under control we did ventilation to get rid of the smoke which gives us a better view of the unit and the units next door.

“It’s just part of the final process before we hand it over to the owner. They turned up through the process.

“Everyone worked well together to contain the blaze and make sure it didn’t spread to the other units.”

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