By Tyler Wright
A Clematis pub has been forced to close after part of its building was set on fire in the early hours on Sunday 30 July.
Bayswater, Emerald, Clematis, Narre Warren East, Menzies Creek and Selby CFA units were called to a blaze at the Paradise Valley Hotel on Belgrave-Gembrook Road at about 3am.
Part owner Mark Protheroe said he arrived at the venue at around 3.30am, after receiving a call from his security company, to find seven fire trucks and smoke in the air.
“The blaze had taken place under the pub in a disused part of the pub that we’re currently in the process of trying to renovate, and there was a stack of building materials that had been deliberately lit,” Mr Protheroe said.
“At the moment the full impact is unclear because one of the insurance companies involved has not engaged us or our landlords yet, but best case scenario we’ll be opened by the weekend.”
Mr Protheroe said a large part of the ground floor, where the venue currently operates, has come out unscathed, but the mains power had been affected and the ground floor had been melted from below.
“The toilets aren’t fully usable in half the building,” he said.
“It was shock and anger that someone would light it deliberately.
“When we found out, most of the staff and some of the community spent most of the day moving our food somewhere where we had power to stay refrigerated.”
Clematis Fire Brigade captain Glenn Brown said the hotel is one of the “major structures” in the area.
“It’s quite an important asset to the area and the community as a whole,” Mr Brown said.
“It was important to contain it and then extinguish it and keep it as small as possible for them to rebuild to get it reopened for the community.
“It would have been a much larger, more destructive fire if it was left any longer, an aggressive initial internal attack from our brigade contained it to this subfloor area with minimal fire extension to the balcony area above.”
The incident was deemed safe at 4:52am.
“Relevant power and gas companies were called to the scene,” a CFA spokesperson said.
“Breathing apparatus crews were required.”
No one was inside at the time.
The fire is currently being treated as suspicious.
Police said an arson chemist would attend the scene later on Monday 31 July.
“Anyone who witnessed the incident, with footage or information is urged to contact Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000 or anonymously at www.crimestoppersvic.com.au.”
Mr Protheroe thanked the community for being so interested in staff’s welfare.
“We’re so delayed at the moment by the insurance still not having given us a clear path forward…we’ve got a lot of staff on standby,” he said.
“People have bookings that we can’t tell them whether they’re going to go ahead or not.
“We’re looking forward to getting back to doing what we love pretty soon.”
