12/6/2010
Nearly 50 firefighters battled a blaze that broke out in a Chinese restaurant in Melbourne's CBD last night and quickly tore through the historic building.
The fire caused an estimated $500,000 damage to Wing Loong Chinese Restaurant on Heffernan Lane in Chinatown after igniting in the kitchen of the four-storey building just after 11pm.Metropolitan Fire Brigade commander Wayne Garrard said firefighters arrived within minutes of the triple-0 call to find the restaurant's owners attempting to extinguish the flames.
But the fire spread rapidly from the ground-floor kitchen to the fourth floor and and engulfed the roof of the building, which has long links with Melbourne's Chinese community.A Chinese restaurant has operated at 11 Heffernan Lane since Wing Ching opened on the site in 1894.
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''It was quite an extensive fire. The two top floors were pretty well involved in the fire so we had quite a few people there,'' Mr Garrard said.
''It started in the kitchen area, either food or cooking oil on the stove has caught on fire and it has got up into the duct system into the extraction fans and that's how it's spread right up the building. The floors that the ducting goes through are all wooden and it has just spread very rapidly.
''It was too dangerous to send people in there because of the integrity of the building.''
Forty-eight firefighters were forced to battle the blaze from the laneway with the assistance of aerial appliances.
The fire was contained within 40 minutes, however firefighters are expected to remain at the scene throughout the morning.
It is not believed to be suspicious.
Mr Garrard said no customers were believed to be in the restaurant at the time.
Two firefighters were treated at the scene for heat exhaustion, and no one else was injured.
Nearly 50 firefighters battled a blaze that broke out in a Chinese restaurant in Melbourne's CBD last night and quickly tore through the historic building.
The fire caused an estimated $500,000 damage to Wing Loong Chinese Restaurant on Heffernan Lane in Chinatown after igniting in the kitchen of the four-storey building just after 11pm.Metropolitan Fire Brigade commander Wayne Garrard said firefighters arrived within minutes of the triple-0 call to find the restaurant's owners attempting to extinguish the flames.
But the fire spread rapidly from the ground-floor kitchen to the fourth floor and and engulfed the roof of the building, which has long links with Melbourne's Chinese community.A Chinese restaurant has operated at 11 Heffernan Lane since Wing Ching opened on the site in 1894.
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''It was quite an extensive fire. The two top floors were pretty well involved in the fire so we had quite a few people there,'' Mr Garrard said.
''It started in the kitchen area, either food or cooking oil on the stove has caught on fire and it has got up into the duct system into the extraction fans and that's how it's spread right up the building. The floors that the ducting goes through are all wooden and it has just spread very rapidly.
''It was too dangerous to send people in there because of the integrity of the building.''
Forty-eight firefighters were forced to battle the blaze from the laneway with the assistance of aerial appliances.
The fire was contained within 40 minutes, however firefighters are expected to remain at the scene throughout the morning.
It is not believed to be suspicious.
Mr Garrard said no customers were believed to be in the restaurant at the time.
Two firefighters were treated at the scene for heat exhaustion, and no one else was injured.
