Old Dental Surgery Up In Flames
Illawarra Mercury
Wednesday January 21, 2004
THE sign out the front of the old weatherboard dental surgery might well have been an omen.
``After hours emergency - phone ..."
The number was blacked out.
No-one was there to save it when flames engulfed the deserted building early yesterday morning.
Police and NSW Fire Brigade officers rushed to the single-storey building at 13 Atchison St about 5.40am, however the the flames had taken hold.
It took just minutes for the building, which had not operated as a dental surgery for a few years, to go up in smoke.
Fire brigade officers from Wollongong and Warrawong extinguished the fire about 6.20am, but the building had been gutted.
Southern Region Acting Senior Sergeant John Klepczarek said the building was unoccupied and no-one was injured in the fire.
Fire investigators and forensic police examined the ruins and are investigating the cause of the blaze.
Police said they had not ruled out arson.
In a separate incident, fire brigade officers were called to a Cringila house on Monday night after reports it was alight.
A NSW Fire Brigade spokesman said the blaze broke out about 10.30pm in the front bedroom of the abandoned house.
The bedroom was damaged, and the cause of the fire was not known.
Anyone with information about the fires can contact Wollongong police on 42267899.
© 2004 Illawarra Mercury
