THE owner of the Dooen Hotel is counting her lucky stars after avoiding the devastation of a fire.
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Ali Faux said logs place inside the fire guard of the hotel’s wood heater led to a possibly devastating situation.
She started the wood fire on Tuesday afternoon to warm up the pub.
Once the fire was burning, she turned the heater to a low setting and left the hotel. However, three hours later she received a phone call that the stumps had caught alight from the heat coming from the fire.
Mrs Faux said authorities extinguished the fire, but she still had a bad feeling.
“I saw smoke coming out from underneath the tiles and because a tile shattered – and we had to repair it anyway – I picked the tiles up,” she said.
After removing the tiles, Mrs Faux found that the fire had burnt through the grout and cement sheet, and the floorboards were still burning.
Mrs Faux said she had always stored wood inside the fire guard for convenience, and to keep it out of patrons’ way.
“It is something we have always done,” she said. “We don’t put kindling in front of the fire because it’s smaller and easier to burn.
“But stumps ... I never thought the heat coming out of the fire (would burn them).
“Even leaving it … we put a stump on the fire and turn it down when we go to sleep at night.
“There’s always been wood around the fire, but nothing has ever happened.”
Mrs Faux said fire safety was common sense, but often people believed a long-held habit was a safe choice.
“We’re all aware of fire safety – we’re taught in school and from our parents. But the biggest message is to be aware that it could happen,” she said.
Mrs Faux said she felt lucky that the fire caused only minor damage.
“We have heard about all the pubs that have burnt down and we are really conscious of that,” she said.
“It was hard because the authorities told me it was fine, so to go against their judgment was hard.
“We are feeling lucky that if we had not done that then we would not be here.
“This was a freak incident, but the fact it happened tells me that it could happen to anyone’s home or business. So I would tell people to keep everything out of the fire guard area.”
Mrs Faux said people should contact the Country Fire Authority to report a fire.
“If someone is not sure about a fire, then call the CFA – even if you feel silly about it, just do it anyway. If you have a bad gut feeling or you’re not 100 per cent, then that is what they are there for,” she said.
The fire authority’s District 17 operations officer Mick Lavery reminded people to be vigilant. He said firewood should be stored away from the fire, as well as flammable items such as clothes.
“It only needs to happen once for it to have a bad consequence,” he said.