A suspicious fire burned down a whole shopping centre, destroying up to 15 shops including the suburb’s biggest doctor’s surgery.
The fire tore through Civic Centre on the corner of Wirraway Parade and Corsair Avenue in the Brisbane suburb of Inala early Saturday morning.
Police declared the area a crime scene and said they were treating the blaze as suspicious until proven otherwise.
A suspicious fire burned down a whole shopping centre, destroying up to 15 shops including the suburb’s biggest doctor’s surgery
The fire tore through Civic Centre on the corner of Wirraway Parade and Corsair Avenue in the Brisbane suburb of Inala early Saturday morning
Police declared the area a crime scene and said they were treating the blaze as suspicious until proven otherwise
The fire was believed to have started in a chemist and spread throughout the centre with much of the roof collapsing and the whole block sealed off.
It took 50 firefighters battling the blaze for hours to get it under control and the blackened building was still smouldering on Saturday afternoon.
Medical Centre owner Michael Ho wasn’t aware of the fire until he got off a plane at 8am and read his text messages.
‘We have lost everything. Luckily we will have patient files as we are fully computerised, so we will have back up,’ he told the Brisbane Times.
The fire was believed to have started in a chemist and spread throughout the centre with much of the roof collapsing and the whole block sealed off
It took 50 firefighters battling the blaze for hours to get it under control
The blackened building was still smouldering on Saturday afternoon
Firefighters spray the building on Saturday morning trying to extinguish spot fires
Dr Ho said the centre was completely destroyed and staff were looking for a new location to resume treating patients within two weeks.
Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk, whose electorate includes Inala, stopped by to see the devastated area.
‘This is the heart of Inala really, this is where everyone comes and does their shopping, this is where everyone comes to meet, so of course it’s a tragedy,’ she said.
No one was reported injured or killed in the fire.
Dozens of firefighters battled all morning to bring it under control
No one was reported injured or killed in the fire despite its large size and damage