There are no suspicious circumstances surrounding a shed and house fire at Millicent on Sunday night. Two police fire cause investigators travelled from Adelaide on the following day, inspected the Mount Gambier Road property and then made their determination.

The fire-impacted shed and house are at the rear of a deep block and behind a kitchen manufacturing business. CFS crews were alerted at 7.47pm after a 000 caller reported seeing large flames rising from behind the house. Four CFS crews from the Wattle Range Group, a bulk water carrier, SA Police and the SA Ambulance Service arrived to find the shed at the rear of the home ablaze.

Crews set about protecting the nearby homes and extinguished the fire. The fire spread into the adjoining house, with the shed believed to have contained tools and machinery. Damages were initially estimated to be $40,000, with the value later rising to $100,000 when losses were able to be observed.

No one was at home at the time when the fire started. Other CFS crews were mobilised but stood down before their arrival at the scene. CFS personnel were on duty for much of the night. Meanwhile, a boom crane with snorkel attached was brought from Mount Gambier last week to combat a chimney fire at the Grand Hotel, pictured, in Millicent.

Six fire-fighters from the Metropolitan Fire Service used their specialised apparatus to deal with the two-storied structure. The alarm was raised at 5.30pm on June 21 after reports of flames coming from a chimney. No-one was injured and there was no damage.

Grand Hotel management issued a public statement in the wake of the incident. “We would like to thank everyone who assisted us when our chimney caught on fire – from the passers-by who came in to inform us, the amazing local CFS volunteers who attended, police, ambulance officers and the Mount Gambier MFS. “We are very lucky to have these amazing people in our community.”