A blackened charred ruin of timber and studs is still smoking. Friable flakes of blackened asbestos litter the shoreline of Wallis Lake. Owner Bill Paull’s sense of loss as he surveys the blackened shell of what was until yesterday a cafe, watercraft hire and function centre, is palpable.
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“We’re just in shock,” says co-owner and partner Trudy Paull.
“There’s a lot to deal with.”
Due to re-open after its winter hiatus on September 2 (in time for Father’s Day), Ripples on the Lake burnt down in a matter of hours on Sunday (August 21) night. The Rural Fire Service (RFS) were first on the scene south of Forster off Lakes Way, responding to a call made at 7.40pm.
“Someone reported an unknown explosion, then possibly a car fire,” said RFS’s superintendent Jim Blackmore.
With the RFS on site, NSW Fire and Rescue were called in but the building was well and truly engulfed by flames by the time they arrived. Fortunately it was determined early on nobody was in the burning building at the time of the incident.
“It was really an operation of defensive firefighting,” captain Paul Langley said, adding that the large commercial gas cyclinders had to be constantly hosed down to prevent them from exploding and firefighters forcibly demolished a wall to prevent it from toppling down unexpectedly.
Formerly known as the Lakeside Family Boatshed, Ripples - which served as a cafe, function centre and recreational water equipment hire - is now a burnt charred mess.
Two crews from Forster, three RFS trucks relaying water, and the hazardous materials team from Taree were involved in putting out the blaze, which took two hours to extinguish. The site was then sprayed with PVA glue to contain the friable asbestos within the building, before it was cordoned off with barrier tape in an exclusion zone.
Firefighters wearing personal protective equipment had to hose themselves off and bag the gear up for decontamination off-site.
With council staff set to visit the site on Tuesday, MidCoast Council’s John Cavanagh said that water is used as a containment material for asbestos particles and it is “only a problem when it is airborne.”
Owners Trudy and Bill Paull bought the business, located on Crown Land, in 2011, and have spent much of the five years improving it with renovations.
“We’re devastated,” said Trudy, on the eve of what was supposed to be the start of their busy season.
“We’re still trying to find out how and why it happened. But they [police] think it might be too severe to tell,” she said.
She said it was too early to contemplate the future for the site.
Detectives from Manning/Great Lakes Local Area Command are investigating the cause and urge any person who has information which could assist investigators to come forward.