A man has been arrested after allegedly being caught on CCTV footage starting a fire in a wheelie bin, which spread through and destroyed a heritage-listed grandstand.
Emergency services received reports of a blaze ripping through the grandstand at the Caulfield Racecourse, in southwest Melbourne, just before 6.20am on Tuesday.
Footage from the scene shows firefighters battling with the blaze on the first level of the Norman Robinson Grandstand on the eastern side of the main stand.
An investigation into the origin of the fire was launched by police soon after it was brought ‘under control’ at about 7am and a 51-year-old has been arrested.
CCTV footage from inside the grandstand showed the man allegedly dragging the wheelie bin to an upper level before adding extra paper and setting it alight.
He had allegedly started the fire in a section of the stand with timber decking, which allowed it to spread quickly, the Herald Sun reports.
The fire resulted in extensive damage to the event spaces inside the stand but could have been worse if not for a ‘state of the art’ sprinkler system.
Melbourne Racing Club chairman, John Kanga, said the heritage grandstand will not be demolished but rebuilt to the tune of ‘millions’.
‘I’m not a builder but from what I’ve seen this morning the damage will be in the millions,’ Mr Kanga said.
While staff and members are ‘gutted’ by the damage to the stand, a number of precious artworks managed to escape the blaze without being destroyed.
Acting Assistant Chief Fire Officer, Dennis Smith, said firefighters worked quickly to control the blaze as it threatened to spread across the timber grandstand.
‘Being such an old building, there’s definitely a lot of potential for that to extend and be quite a significant fire, but really good work from the initial crews,’ Mr Smith said.
‘We had approximately 17 fire trucks and resources on scene and I think it was over 70 firefighters on scene, so they’ve all worked pretty hard.’
Mr Smith confirmed there were no injuries to either horse or man but one firefighter was treated in hospital for a cut to their hand.
The fire came just a day prior to a twilight race meet on the new Caulfield Heath track at the racecourse.
But the MRC announced later on Tuesday that the meet would instead be held at the nearby Mornington Racecourse.
‘Whilst the racing surface was not impacted, building surveyors, health officials and investigators are currently inspecting the venue,’ the statement reads.
‘Accordingly, the MRC believed it was in the best interests of all parties to make the call now to transfer tomorrow’s race meeting to avoid any further disruptions for participants and patrons.’
Concerns are still being held for the availability of the course in the lead up to one of its busiest periods as it hosts the Blue Diamond Stakes, CF Orr Stakes and Oakleigh Plate in February.
