Tragedy has struck the Bourke community once more as their local supermarket went up in flames yesterday (Monday, 27 December) afternoon, completely gutting the building.

Bourke’s Fire and Rescue were called to the scene at 2.15 pm yesterday afternoon after flames rose from the local supermarket ‘Spar’, followed by backup crews from Cobar, Brewarrina, Dubbo, and the local RFS. 

Bourke Fire and Rescue Captain John Milgate said that the teams remained until 9:30 pm last night fighting the blaze, before the Dubbo team took over to manage spot fires overnight. 

“It’s been totally gutted…It’s still got all the walls standing but it’s pretty much all been destroyed,” Mr Milgate said.

The cause of the fire is so far undetermined, and until then will be treated as suspicious, with both Fire and Rescue and Police Forensics arriving tomorrow to open an investigation. 

Thankfully, no one was harmed in the fire, with all staff escaping the building before the fire became out of hand. With nothing left of the business, however, approximately 20 staff members will be out of work.

Mr Milgate said that the Spar owner has intentions to rebuild.

“Speaking to the owner yesterday, he already wants to try and talk to the shire to find out what his options are and what they can do to get the process going,” Mr Milgate said. 

While the fires that have seen Walgett lose their local supermarket twice have led to temporary supermarkets being put in place while the rebuild is ongoing, Mr Milgate doesn’t see a similar approach on the horizon for the Bourke community. 

“The shire has been proactive about whether they can set up a temporary one somewhere, but I don’t think that’s going to be plausible considering the fact that we’ve got another major supermarket in town (IGA), it’s not quite like Walgett,” Mr Milgate said.

The fire follows the major tragedy from August this year that saw both the Diggers RSL and Oxley Hall catch on fire, losing decades of Bourke history and war memorabilia.

Just last week, the town saw another fire take a woman’s house, just a week before Christmas. 

“It’s a good wake up call for all businesses to have all their appliances and electricals checked on a regular basis and to make sure their smoke alarms are fitted,” Mr Milgate said. 

Mr Milgate said that when there is tragedy, the best thing a community can do is learn.