ONE of the nation’s leading fire scene examiners is among the experts trying to determine the reason why the licensed clubrooms of Nangwarry Football Netball Club burned to the ground overnight on Wednesday.
Simon Cox is among those spearheading the investigation which remains ongoing with an official cause yet to be determined for the blaze which caused an estimated $500,000 damage.
Senior Limestone Coast police were due to hold an internal meeting regarding the incident yesterday afternoon, but any update from that briefing was unknown at the time of print.
In over four decades as a forensic consultant, Mr Cox has probed major structure fires and forest fires since 1978 and was engaged by Insurance Australia Group – the club’s insurer – to hold an investigation.
Based in Penola, Mr Cox was one of the 35 volunteer Country Fire Service firefighters who battled the blaze last week as he is a Wattle Range CFS deputy group officer.
Mr Cox has other close community ties as he spent two terms as an elected member on Wattle Range Council and was its deputy mayor from 2003-2006.
While not being drawn on the cause of the fire, Mr Cox was willing to talk about other aspects.
He said a number of people associated with the Nangwarry club and the town had shared their memories with him of the building which dated back to the 1940s.
“One man told me that he had upgraded the football umpires changerooms several years ago and they had been nicknamed the ‘Hilton’ because of their standard,” Mr Cox said.
“These rooms were lost in the fire but it did expose the former projectionist’s box made of stone and the gaps in the wall.
“In the early days, films were shown in the building.
“Another man told me of playing about in the building and finding old glass slides from those days.”
