General News
18 December, 2023
Thrift shop will bounce back after possible electrical fault sparks blaze
Charred remnants of around 10,000 books, burnt fabric from more than 1000 pieces of clothing and ashy carcasses of shop fittings are all that remain after a fire blazed through the town’s Salvos thrift store — burning it down to its structural...
Charred remnants of around 10,000 books, burnt fabric from more than 1000 pieces of clothing and ashy carcasses of shop fittings are all that remain after a fire blazed through the town’s Salvos thrift store — burning it down to its structural bones.
In a tragic incident that occurred over the weekend, The Maryborough Salvation Army’s Alma Street shop caught fire in the early hours of Saturday morning at around 2 am, with flames running through the entire outlet before it was put out.
The store, a “second home” for many, has been a fixture of the community for the past 20 years and now, not having it around, Salvos Captain Ron Stobie said, is surreal.
“There was a bit of disbelief when I first saw the store, after it was burned down,” he said.
“It’s not like it was one part of the shop, it was everything — it’s all gone.
“Our shop, there’s so many facets to it. Yes, it’s a place where people can buy stuff but there was also a community within those walls. For our volunteers especially, they were all part of a bigger family. There’s going to be a huge knock on effect after this — it was the main source of income for the organisation here in Maryborough and it allowed us to organise all the community pro-grams that we’ve been doing to support people doing it tough.”
Coming into Christmas, The Salvation Army had been working on their annual festive appeal, to give out food to those in need and fortunately, all donations were moved from the store to their main facility on 27 Wills Street, prior to the fire.
However, a significant amount of shelved items were lost.
“We had so many things and there’s nothing we can salvage,” Mr Stobie said.
“There were thousands of books and we had metres and metres worth of bric-a-brac, including plates, bowls and cutlery. We also had around 40 double racks filled with clothes. We had a really unique assortment of things.
“I just really feel for the volunteers who over the last few months have done so much work to rejig the shop and make it the best possible sales experience for everyone.”
Investigations into the cause of the fire are ongoing but police have ruled out arson — putting it down to a potential electrical fault, Mr Stobie said.
“Obviously, we don’t want a fire of any kind but to know that it wasn’t deliberate is a huge relief,” he said.
“It’s a good feeling just because it means that no one was targetting the shop.”
Looking to the future, Mr Stobie said the store would bounce back — hoping to continue uplifting the community.
“We believe that we’re still needed in the town,” he said.
“So we will figure out what we can do in the short term. The landlord, who rents the same premises, is wanting to rebuild and have us back so that’s good news.
“For now, we are working on coming up with a plan on how to operate and serve our community. It’s a big hit for all of us but we don’t want to lessen what we do for the community.
“In the meantime, if people have donations they should go to the local Scout op-shop and to Vinnies. If anyone has any ideas around what we can do in setting up a temporary shop, it’d be great if they could get in touch with us — we’d greatly appreciate it.”
To find out more on how you can help, contact The Salvation Army Maryborough on 5461-2789.
