Fire destroys carpet stock

By Sarah Schwager
A CRANBOURNE carpet store lost its stock after the warehouse went up in flames.
Julie and Garret Mate, owners of Carpet Court, were shocked to receive a call last Wednesday, 9 August at about 6.40pm that their store was on fire.
Mrs Mate said they were fortunate that people in the building next door were having a late meeting and noticed the fire.
“Otherwise no one would have seen it because the warehouse is hidden from view,” she said.
She said her husband Garret helped move burning rolls of carpet outside with a forklift so that the CFA could put them out.
“It was pretty dramatic,” she said.
Mrs Mate said while all their stock was lost, they were lucky that the fire had not spread to the showroom so they could still trade.
“We are still getting stock in and are selling as normal.”
She said the clean up was going well.
“Thank goodness it wasn’t worse,” she said. “Everyone’s been so supportive though. It’s really nice.”
Cranbourne CFA attended the fire at the South Gippsland Highway store along with the Hampton Park crew.
A CFA spokesman said the whole building was damaged by smoke but the fire had been contained.