Wednesday 23 May 2018

Firefighters Kept Busy At Two Major Fires Overnight In The Hunter

BY IAN CROUCH

Fire has caused extensive damage to a building at the Tighes Hill TAFE campus.

Around 30 firefighters were called to Building D at about 8.15pm on Tuesday where they found the administration area on the second floor of the 3 storey building well alight.

It's taken more than 3 hours to extinguish and mop up the blaze.

It's understood aged care courses are conducted on level 1 of the building and these are likely to be disrupted today.

In a statement, Parliamentary Secretary for the Hunter, Scot MacDonald said the government will carry out a building assessment and plans for repairs will be drawn up straight away.

Meanwhile, fire destroyed a large demountable building at the old Hunter V-Tec site adjacent to the GE Power Services Repair Centre at Telarah on Tuesday night.

Up to 40 firefighters from several Lower Hunter and Newcastle stations were called to the Junction Street site at about 8.15pm to find the 20 by 40 metre demountable engulfed in flames.

It's taken about 3 hours to extinguish the blaze - no other buildings on the site were damaged.

Police are investigating the cause of both fires.