1. Damage to the Go-Lo window shopfrontBy Shaun Inguanzo
A CHRISTMAS Day disaster at a Dandenong Plaza bargain shop damaged up to $30,000 of stock and interrupted family celebrations for those involved in the clean up effort.
Christmas lights accidentally left on over the public holiday are believed to be the cause of a front window fire in Go-Lo.
The shop’s sprinklers then activated and continued for two hours, dousing flames but damaging $20,000 worth of stock, store management said.
Store co-manager Lisa Wilkins said up to $10,000 was lost in Boxing Day trading before the store was fully cleaned and reopened at 2pm.
“It wasn’t really the fire damage (to stock). The most was water damage because the water was left on for two hours after the fire,” she said.
“It was started by some Christmas lights left on. They weren’t faulty, just coiled up together.
“One of the staff had taken them down but forgot to turn them off, and the heat generated by the lights caused a fire.”
The disaster also impacted upon the Dandenong Plaza staff, store staff, and fire fighters’ Christmas Day celebrations, and Ms Wilkins said she was forced to leave a family breakfast when she received news of the event.
“My mum actually came in with me and helped me (clean up) for a while, and our team leader here stayed until 4pm during the day.”
Fire crews from Dandenong and Hallam were called to the scene, drawing volunteers away from families and friends for the morning.
Ms Wilkins praised both CFA crews and Dandenong Plaza cleaners for their help in cleaning up the flood and fire mess.
“Without them we wouldn’t have been cleaned up by Boxing Day,” she said.
Despite the damage to the shop, Ms Wilkins said she was thankful the disaster occurred on a non-trading day.
“It was lucky. I would hate for customers to be injured. It is kind of positive it happened on a day we weren’t trading.”
Ms Wilkins said this week the store had resumed regular trading hours and that damaged stock was replaced with overstock from the storage area.
Ms Wilkins said damaged stock had been placed in a holding cell for insurance agents to observe.
