Up in smoke: Firefighters battle the blaze on Tuesday night.
ERIN PEARSON
A businessman has expressed devastation at losing “18 years of hard work” in a fire at Grovedale on Tuesday night.
Christie Tyler Furniture owner Sam Cortorillo said he watched his business and two neighbouring stores go up in flames.
“It’s going to be a very long process to get the business back to what it was,” he said.
“When I got the phone call my heart just dropped, we are all shattered.”
About 50 firefighters spent three hours battling the blaze at the corner of Marshalltown and Torquay roads.
Police later closed Marshalltown Road temporarily while investigators sifted through the gutted buildings. Police described the fire as suspicious.
Mr Cortorillo estimated the blaze would cost his business more than $800,000.
He expected to close for three months before opening in a temporary location.
“We’ll get back on our feet, I guarantee it.”
CFA operations officer Mark Sinkinson said firefighters rushed to the blaze about 8.30pm to find the buildings “well alight”.
The store was believed to have started in Mr Cortorillo’s sofa store before quickly spreading to Parts 4 Automotive and Middy’s Data and Electrical.
“It was a rapidly moving fire. It developed in the front of the building and, while firefighting tried to control the spread of the blaze, there was just too much fuel within the building.”
