Police are investigating a suspicious fire in Ballarat that occurred on Saturday night.
Ballarat City and Wendouree Fire Brigades were paged for a reported house fire in Lake Wendouree on Saturday just after 5pm.
With multiple calls being received by 000 calltakers, and a message from Ballarat City Pumper 1 of "Smoke Showing", it was obvious they had a going fire on their hands.
On arrival, Senior Station Officer Crompton gave a "not yet under control" wordback, and power company required urgently due to the live powerlines attached to the premises that were in danger of falling on responding firefighters.
The vacant brick and timber building suffered substantial damage, with flames shooting out from the front windows at the height of the blaze.
Witnesses stated they saw a number of people running from the vacant premises just before the fire started, with police called to investigate, along with CFA fire investigators and the RDO.
In attendance:
Ballarat City pumper 1 and 2
Wendouree pumper, tanker, support
RDO Pearce
Victoria Police
The incident controller was SSO Ross Crompton from Ballarat City, handed over to Wendouree Captain for the nightshift and fire duty.
Pictures by Blair Dellemijn - CFA Photographer.
Author: Blair Dellemijn