By Brendan Rees
A Berwick couple are waiting nervously to find out whether their allegedly stolen trailer was damaged in a towing business fire – only days after it was recovered in Hallam.
Courtney Hill and Clay Tharle say it was “a huge sigh of relief” to be reunited with their trailer on Tuesday, 23 January after it was allegedly stolen earlier this month.
The trailer, which was used for the couple’s lemonade business, Lemon-Aid was found by police at a Hallam address and towed to Berwick Towing Service on Enterprise Avenue, Berwick.
The trailer was allegedly taken from a factory carpark in Deblin Drive, Narre Warren during the earlier hours of Friday, 12 January.
But the state of the trailer remained in limbo after a fire ripped through the towing centre on Friday, 26 January.
Just days before the fire, an elated Mr Tharle said they had not been confident of getting the trailer back until they received the good news.
“It means the world now. To get that back is just a huge sigh of relief,” he said.“We ended up going last week and buying another caravan. We were just going to turn it back into our lemonade stand.”
Earlier this week Mr Tharle said they were yet to find out if their trailer was damaged in the fire.
Police and CFA crews from Berwick, Hallam, Dandenong and Bayswater were called to the towing centre fire at about 5.50am where it’s believed at least two cars were damaged.
A CFA spokesperson said “multiple cars were alight,” adding the fire was contained by 7.15am.
Berwick CFA First Lieutenant Peter Obeth said the factory filled up with thick black smoke causing a lot of damage.
“Once we got in and squirted a lot of water around and knocked it down, it was a little bit easier to see what was going on.”
He said no one in the building at the time of the fire but added there were multiple cars parked inside.
The cause of the fire is still undetermined and police are investigating.
Detective Senior Sergeant Mark Hatt from the Southern Metro Crime Unit said the damage was unknown and they were in the process of speaking to witnesses and looking at CCTV footage.
“There are no real answers for us or anyone else at present,” he said.
“As far as being a criminal act we simply don’t know. We can say a lot more until we know exactly what’s going on”
Berwick Towing Service declined to comment on the incident.
Police are also investigating the theft of the trailer where it’s believed two cars were caught on CCTV from a business in Deblin Drive at the time the trailer was allegedly stolen.
Anyone with information is urged to contact Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000.
