Vic: Firebugs suspected in Kmart and semitrailer fires

AAP General News (Australia)
12-17-2000
Vic: Firebugs suspected in Kmart and semitrailer fires

Arson is suspected in two blazes at opposite ends of Melbourne earlier today.

One blaze was in a Kmart loading bay and the other involves a semitrailer load of plastic
and aluminium.

In the first blaze a 24-hour Coles supermarket in the city's southeast had to be evacuated
of nightowl shoppers about 2am AEDT after packing materials in a nearby Kmart loading
bay caught fire.

Police say the suspicious fire, started in boxes and pallets stacked against roller
doors in a loading bay at the Cranbourne Kmart, and quickly spread inside the shop.

About $10,000 worth of Kmart stock was ruined by the flames with firefighters saying
structural damage to the retail complex is estimated at $20,000 and an early estimate
of smoke damage is $80,000.

Meanwhile, arson is also suspected when a fire gutted a semitrailer, loaded with aluminium
and plastics in Melbourne's outer north-west.

The fire - officially described by police investigators as suspicious - is believed
to have started about 4.20am AEDT.

The B-double semi-trailer, which had no prime mover attached, was parked in a carpark
on the corner of David Munroe Drive and Thomas Brunton Drive, Roxburgh Park.

AAP RTV imc/ra/alt EDS NOTE: CHANGING
KEYWORD and INCORPORATING STORIES: SEMITRAILER AND SUPERMARKET

KEYWORD: ARSON (MELBOURNE)

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