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A fire that authorities say was deliberately lit has gutted dozens of small businesses, many family-run and owned, in Perth’s north overnight.
More than 130 emergency responders, including police, paramedics and firefighters, and 25 fire trucks, attended the scene at the Morley Markets, on the corner of Bishop and Progress streets, after the fire was lit around 1am.
Firefighters on scene during the early hours of the morning. Credit: Peter Nguyen
The blaze destroyed the 5000 square metre building and the Arson Squad is now investigating the incident.
One of the men accused of being part of WA’s escalating tobacco wars was banned from attending the same markets during an amendment to his bail at a court hearing on Friday.
Nearby residents are being urged to stay inside with their windows and doors closed as emergency crews continue to mop up the damage.
Department of Fire and Emergency Services incident controller Andrew Duckworth told ABC Perth Radio it was still too dangerous to enter the building.
“Every business in the market has been impacted to some extent. I’m not sure of the numbers at this stage,” he said.
“The roof of the building has collapsed and there’s a lot of smouldering still happening inside. It’s not safe to put our firefighters inside the building.
“We managed to contain [the fire] to the building of origin, there were a number of other buildings very close by, so we’ve stopped it spreading and impacting those building, however, by the time we arrived, it was fairly intense, and we weren’t able to contain it within the building.”
Duckworth said, “we know it’s deliberate, and I can’t say any more than that.”
An emergency meeting with business owners will be held on Wednesday morning.
Peter Nguyen, from Bishop St Newsagency, posted to his businesses Instagram stating everything had been destroyed, before starting a GoFundMe page to “help support us in these hard times and to get our business back up on its feet”.
“The newsagency burned in a fire along with the whole of the Morley Market. We have been in business here for 20 years, and have lost everything in this disaster,” he wrote on the fundraising page.
“We don’t want Bishop St News to die, and I hope the community of Morley feels the same way. If you had any fond memories of our shop, please consider donating or sharing our story.”
More to come.
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