Victoria police say nobody has been injured and a crime scene has been established

Major parts of a Caulfield Racecourse grandstand have been destroyed in a suspicious early morning fire.

Fire Rescue Victoria responded to the blaze at Station Street in Caulfield East in Melbourne’s south-east at 6.20am on Tuesday.

“Firefighters arrived on scene to find a fire in the centre of a 200m x 100m brick structure,” a statement said.

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The response was escalated to a third alarm which indicates a significant fire, with multiple crews battling the blaze before getting it under control about 7am.

One firefighter suffered a minor hand injury in the blaze and was treated in hospital.

Massive fire at Caulfield racecourse in grandstand for updates tune into @RSN927 pic.twitter.com/cuSZQ8kpee

A FRV incident controller, Dennis Smith, said the fire had caused “significant damage” to the Norman Robinson stand and had originated in a bar on the first level.

“It is timber, so it burned pretty well, also there’s a bar behind, the 1876 bar, that has also been impacted by this,” he told reporters.

“As far as the grandstands on either side, there is a little bit of water damage but no fire [damage], thankfully.

“But that stand itself is significantly impacted.”

Victoria police have established a crime scene. “Police are investigating a suspicious fire at the Caulfield Racecourse,” a statement said.

Smith said desperate early efforts from 17 fire crews had stopped the blaze spreading any further.

“There are a lot of residents around here, but thankfully the wind wasn’t significant so it didn’t really impact [the surrounding area] as much,” he said.

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The chair of the Melbourne Racing Club, John Kanga, said contingency plans were in place for a race scheduled for Wednesday.

“In my perspective, it’s unlikely [to go ahead at Caulfield] and we would probably move to Mornington tomorrow,” he told reporters.

“We are gutted as a club but we are keen to rebuild.”

Kanga said the damaged areas were among racegoers’ favourites.

“Both bars are very well frequented … I can assure [members] that we will rebuild it as good or if not better than what it was,” he said.

A Vic Emergency advice message was flagged for the nearby suburbs of Ashburton, Carnegie, Caulfield, Caulfield East, Caulfield North, Caulfield South, Glen Huntly, Glen Iris, Malvern, Malvern East, Murrumbeena and Ormond.

“There is currently no threat to the community, but you should continue to stay informed and monitor conditions,” the alert said.

Source: www.theguardian.com