An inquiry is ongoing after a fire damaged a factory facility in Queanbeyan East “50 percent destroyed” Thursday afternoon (12 August).
At around 12:15 p.m., Fire & Rescue NSW received reports of “black smoke billowing from the doors” of a building near Yass Road.
Initially, eight firefighters in two trucks were deployed to the area, but while en way, the commander of the first truck noticed black smoke in the distance and requested additional resources.
Social media posts also showed a cloud of smoke spreading across the town centre.
“Avoid Queanbeyan – the trade centre is on fire, and the smoke is really bad,” one Facebook post stated.
Additional fire trucks from ACT Fire and Rescue and one from the NSW Rural Fire Service responded to the incident, bringing the total number of firemen to 30 across three services.
According to FRNSW Acting Superintendent Steve Brown, personnel arrived at a medium-sized factory on Chapman Street, behind the Mitre 10 hardware store, to find it “well alight”.
“Firefighters wearing air sets immediately commenced a search of the property and attacked the fire with lines of hose,” Brown, the agricultural superintendent, reported.
The facility was declared clean of people, and the four adjacent buildings were evacuated in case the fire spread.
By 1:06 p.m., the fire had been extinguished, leaving the structure “50 percent destroyed”.
There were no injuries recorded. An investigation is underway to determine the cause of the fire.
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