By Kyra Gillespie
Foul play has been ruled out in the investigation into a large blaze which gutted Gembrook’s historic Ranges Hotel.
CFA Investigators have deemed the fire, which completely destroyed the pub on the morning of Monday 24 September, to be an accident which started from a machine in the laundry room.
“The fire has been confirmed not suspicious,” Acting Senior Sergeant Corrigan said.
“The ignition point was deemed to be in the laundry.
“We understand the fire started in a dryer in the upstairs area.”
Police believe the dryer was turned on around 8pm the previous evening.
The Gazette understands that a build-up of lint in the dryer caused the fire.
More than a dozen fire fighting vehicles and around 50 firefighters were on scene, was well as police and other emergency services.
It’s believed the hotel was well alight by just after 6am.
It was under control shortly after 8am, but unfortunately crews were unable to salvage the heritage-listed building.
“The fire was well and truly going when we got here and had got up into the roof,” Gembrook CFA Incident Controller Chris Pearsal said.
CFA crews allegedly responded to a laundry fire of a similar nature at the same pub almost ten years ago when it was held by a different owner, raising questions around possible connections between the two incidents.
However Gembrook CFA Captain Andrew Clark put the speculations to rest.
“There was a fire nearly ten years ago, but it wasn’t in the same laundry,” he said.
“From memory it started in an outhouse out the back, almost two owners ago.
“The connection is simply speculation; this fire had no connection to the previous one.”
