Aussie icon gone--Conargo Pub

Ron,

"It's funny how it always happened right as business was getting worse and worse."

In fact, business got even worse from right after the fire! LOL

Allan, there was only one building left in Yelbeni - the general store, servo, newsagent, and adjoining house for the owner.
The whole lot went up in flames on 3rd April 2007 - and now there's absolutely nothing left of Yelbeni town!

I'd have to guess the Yelbeni store fire was a genuine accident, as it happened in the middle of the day.
It's when "mysterious" fires happen in the dead of night - when there's a poor chance of getting the fire brigade on the scene quickly, that it raises much suspicion!

Yelbeni store burns to the ground

My house in a small wheatbelt town burnt down in 1982. It was caused by an electrical fault - whereby the 3 phase wires along the road crossed up in strong gusty winds - and this fed 90V into the neutral wire!
The resultant 330V going through the house, melted my little bedside clock, this set fire to the curtains, and the rest was history!

It was the Queens Birthday holiday, I was out working, no-one was home - but my workshop leading hand mechanic was the local fire captain, and spotted the flames from his house about a kilometre away.
He got the fire truck and crew there in 8 minutes, but it was too late, weatherboard houses go up like tinderboxes!

Cheers, Ron.

Just wondering Ron if there is anything or anyplace you haven't done or lived.

There is now a very nice Rest Area at Kwolyin. Recently opened to take the pressure off Kokerbin Rock.

Kwolyin Rest Area

Been a few out that way Ron, Kununoppin, Trayning, Doodlakine all went up a few years ago.
Bloody lightning strikes

6 year statute of limitation is for bringing a civil suit. Criminal suits have no sunset.

100% agree here having owned a similar Hotel built in the late 1800's. Perhaps before we accuse Owners of starting fires we should wait for the facts.

Yes, I am with you Michael & Dazza. Not only was this old pub a Local Icon, but it was the social hub of this small country community. Historic photos & memorabilia lined the walls, all non replaceable. The publican lived in the rear section & has lost all belongings. I am amazed at the comments & insinuations in the first rely. I am sure things will be up & running again shortly. I wouldn’t be surprised if the pub was temporally operating out of a tent or shed within a week or two.

Cheers

I did nothing wrong when my house burnt down - but I can tell you, the police treat you like you did it on purpose, until you can prove otherwise.

The local copper grilled me for a lengthy period about my finances (I just happened to be in deep doo-doo, too, at the time, due to the effects of drought) - how much the house was insured for (bugger-all, when it came to the crunch, I think I got $8000) - and whether I'd made any previous fire claims (none, fortunately).
Then came the questioning about relationships, any drug use, social problems, and so on.
The Police are thorough, they treat all fires with great gravity and treat them as arson until they're reasonably satisfied they're not, or until there's no hope of proving the fires origin.

It was only the State Electricity Commission inspector that saved me from an Arson Squad investigation, when he found 90V in the neutral wire the day after the fire.
The SEC investigation started because the firies pulled all the house fuses and started to pull iron sheeting off the roof - and they got lots of electric sparks!
The neutral wire has no fuse in it, so there's no way of cutting off any power in the neutral wire unless you chop the wire with wire cutters.

The established figures for building and property arson in NSW are;

Established arson - 4%
Considered arson - 13%
Suspicious fires - 30%
Undetermined - 19%
Non-suspicious - 34%

Note the huge percentage (66%) where the cause can't even be established.
Arson is big business and a growing business - if better methods could be introduced to determine fire causes and identify arson, then our insurance premiums would halve.

I feel deeply for the owner of the Conargo pub if the loss truly is accidental - the loss of personal items, photos and memorabilia is awful. You never recover from it.
I lost virtually everything but the clothes I was wearing in my house fire, it makes you very aware of the need to protect vital, irreplaceable items from fire.

Cheers, Ron.