Fire in empty supermarket

EMERGENCY services are at the scene of a fire in the rear of the old Foodworks supermarket in High St, New Norfolk.

The incident was reported at 3.23pm and three heavy tankers, one light tanker and a personnel carrier responded from the New Norfolk Fire Brigade, along with a unit from the Magra Fire Brigade.

UPDATE: The fire appears to have taken hold in a storage facility at the back of the building, which was built as O'Brien's General Store in 1929. No report has yet been received on the extent of the fire, although the brigade was on the scene for several hours.

In the 1960s O'Brien's Store was converted into a supermarket by Rayner Brothers before becoming the first Purity supermarket in the town. Following the opening of the newer Purity in Charles St in 1983 (recently replaced by the new Woolworths in George St), the old store traded under various names including Fabulous Foodmarket, Tiger Superbarn, Tas Everyday, New Norfolk Neighbourhood Food Store and finally FoodWorks which was operated by Joe Mohammed until early 2012, since which time it has been vacant. It has been up for sale or lease for some time.

FURTHER UPDATE: The Mercury has reported that the fire was deliberately lit but no further information has been released by the police or fire brigade.