HOT NEWS IN HOBART

Myer store fire shuts down Hobart centre



A massive fire is burning through a Myer department store in Hobart, threatening surrounding buildings in the CBD.
It is understood that one floor of the multi-storey building in Liverpool Street has collapsed.
Roads surrounding the area have been closed to traffic and pedestrians have been banned from entering a police exclusion zone for safety reasons.
It is understood the blaze started around 3.30pm (AEST) on Saturday.
A massive plume of thick, black smoke hung over the building late on Saturday afternoon as the blaze intensified, forcing fire crews to back away from the Liverpool street area.
There have been no reports of injuries at this stage.
Police said the Liverpool St part of the building had been destroyed and the roof had collapsed.
The building is one of Tasmania's most historic, dating back to 1836.
Fire crews from all over the city were attending the blaze and a large part of the CBD had been evacuated, a police spokesman said.
Shoppers fled the fire as the large department store was engulfed in flames.
A Tasmanian Police spokeswoman said shoppers and staff were evacuated from the busy department store on the corner of Liverpool and Murray streets.
"Fire crews are attempting to stop the fire from spreading to nearby buildings," the spokeswoman said.
"There are no injuries from the fire. All customers and staff were safely evacuated."
It is not known how many people were in the building before the blaze took hold.
"There is nothing to indicate at this stage that the fire was suspicious," the spokeswoman said.

I just gave Mum a weekend morning call and she was telling about how there was a black out last night at home and it blew her modem. I was trying to convince her to get wireless [cause I'm gonna be there with my laptop at Christmas of course.] I was asking why she let me marry an asshole and she cut me off with the news that Myer was on fire at the very moment we were talking which is far more interesting news than only the last three years of my tortured life. Myer has been with me for much much longer.

Myer is the "posh" department store in town - they sell POLO by Ralph Lauren for men there and they are probably amongst the most expensive shirts you can buy in town. Tho' I didn't check over the road in Routley's to check the competition. They also have this massive stair case up through the central section of the part of the store that is burning down which terrified me from a very young age. They are the kind of stairs that you can see through on the riser part of each step. I used to be terrified of heights when I was little and I used to scream all the way up these stairs. When they still sold vinyl, they had a really good sale bin section there where I got all my Stock Aitken and Waterman stable hits from in there. I'm sure all the other stores in town are rubbing their hands with glee at the thought of the boost in sales for them at Christmas time cause it sounds like the store is wrecked, but it is a worry for all the staff members who were lucky to get a job in Hobart anyway. What are they gonna do now?

xx Lektrogirl