Tea towels may have caused fire

The SPONTANEOUS combustion of tea towels has been raised as a possible cause of the fire at the Tamworth restaurant Stetsons.

Insurance assessors were still working yesterday to assess the extent of the damage at the Craigends Ln building and although the exact cause is yet to be established it emerged that hot tea towels taken from a dryer might have smoulded and set off the blaze.

Forensic investigators and police have still yet to deliver their verdict, but tea towel combustion or an electrical fault in a store room located near the kitchen have been named as likely causes.

Although the structural damage is yet to be finalised, the restaurant will remain closed indefinitely and owner Marlene Manvell yesterday told The Leader it was likely it would take a couple of months before it was back up and running.

She said staff were being looked after and how to cater while the restaurant was closed was one a number of issues being worked through.

NSW Fire Brigade Duty Commander, Tony McPherson, said spontaneous combustion of tea towels was a remote phenomenon.

Such combustion results from the oil or grease embedded in tea towels, dirty overalls or massage towels reaching combustion point in clothes dryers, where there is a considerable amount of heat.

In his 30 years as a fire fighter Inspector McPherson said in a restaurant where there was a high turn over of tea towels and things were kept clean while it was not impossible for such a thing to happen it was pretty unheard of.

He said it would be possible for tea towels to ignite if they were in the dryer or still hot when placed on top of one another.

Grass is more commonly known to spontaneously ignite.

Inspector McPherson said it was hard to identify spontaneous combustion as the cause of a fire.

One of more than 18 fire fighters who attended the blaze in the restaurant’s kitchen and food preparation area about 4.50am on Monday ((30.5)), Inspector McPherson, was responsible for ensuring the building was fully extinguished before forensic police were able to enter the building and begin their investigations.

He described the damage to the three rooms as extensive and said severe damage had been caused to the roof cavity and structure of the three rooms where the fire reached its peak.

Inspector McPherson said in his experience the restaurant would be able to be rebuilt but it would prove to be a costly exercise.

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