NEW PLYMOUTH - A fire that engulfed the historic Stratford Tavern early yesterday is being treated as arson.
A police officer discovered the fire at the rear of the 127-year-old wooden building about 5 am after the burglar alarm went off.
The callout came just three hours after two vehicles at the
back of the
Stratford TAB went up in flames.
The earlier fire was brought under control by firefighters but not before gutting both vehicles and damaging the rear of the adjacent building.
Police and fire officers have not ruled out the possibility that the two fires were the work of the same arsonist.
The tavern was unoccupied. Its owner, David Whittle, was on holiday in Mokau.
At the peak of the tavern fire, flames were shooting twice as high as the two-storey building, said John Petford, owner of the Empire Hotel across the road.
"My wife and I watched it from upstairs. We got up and videoed it from beginning to end.
"It was an unbelievable sight. The flames gradually moved around and burst through the windows."
Forty volunteer firefighters and eight appliances fought the blaze. But firefighters were beaten back as the building succumbed to the flames.
One officer was taken to Taranaki Base Hospital with a foot injury after he kicked in a door. About 20 other firefighters were treated for minor smoke inhalation. Three hoses were lost.
Stratford chief fire officer Noel Webby said that when firefighters arrived at 5.20 am they broke into a door at the rear of the tavern. It was not until they knocked down a second door that the full extent of the fire was realised.
"We went to go up the stairs and she was full-on. It was all flames and we had to pull back." - NZPA
