It’s only been three days since a fire broke out in the Plaza’s Reject Shop.
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But the store’s staff have banded together to repair the damage done and today they made the announcement they will resume trading as usual tomorrow from 8.30am.
“Almost all of our team came on board over the weekend to help clean up,” a spokesperson for the Reject Shop said.
The acting manager, who was supposed to be on a well-deserved holiday, also came in to sort through the mess.
A young person was found by police to be responsible for sparking the blaze.
“They set alight a small piece of plastic which they then discarded in the cleaning aisle, before returning to their mother,” Chief Inspector Guy Flaherty said.
The fire caught hold amongst the veritable smorgasboard of flammable chemicals.
Some quick-acting staff members spotted the flames and tried to put them out with an extinguisher, but the fire proved too much and the store was evacuated.
The damage was thankfully contained to just one aisle – ironically, the cleaning products section – and the worst affected area was the ceiling as flames were forced upwards.
Police said a large amount of stock was damaged in the fire.
“The store’s been cleaned up a lot, we’ll just need to do some minor repainting during the week and have some tiles replaced,” the spokesperson said.
“But everyone here is feeling pretty good. It could have been a lot worse.”
The young person is being dealt with under the young offenders act, specifically the doctrine of doli incapax which presumes that “a child between the ages of 10 and 14 does not possess the necessary knowledge to have a criminal intention”.
No charges will therefore be laid.
Background
Mel Leigh Dee
Mel is a journalist at the Guardian News and is based in Macksville.
Mel is a journalist at the Guardian News and is based in Macksville.
