A man was caught on CCTV footage starting a fire in a wheelie bin, which spread and destroyed a heritage-listed stand.
Emergency services received reports of a fire burning through the grandstand at Caulfield Racecourse in Melbourne’s southwest shortly before 6.20am on Tuesday.
Footage from the scene shows firefighters battling the blaze on the first level of the Norman Robinson Stand on the east side of the main stand.
Police launched an investigation into the origin of the fire shortly after it was “under control” around 7am.
CCTV footage from inside the stand showed a man dragging the wheelie bin to a higher level before adding extra paper and setting it on fire.
The fire had started in a wooden-decked section of the stand, allowing it to spread quickly, the Herald Sun reports.
The fire caused extensive damage to the event spaces inside the booth, but could have been worse if not for a state-of-the-art sprinkler system.
CCTV reportedly captured a man setting fire to the heritage-listed grandstand at Caulfield Racecourse (pictured, firefighters at the scene)
Wooden floors in the old stand allowed the fire to spread quickly and cause “millions” worth of damage (pictured)
Melbourne Racing Club president John Kanga said the heritage grandstand will not be demolished but rebuilt to the tune of “millions”.
“I am not a builder, but from what I have seen this morning the damage will be in the millions,” said Kanga.
While staff and members are “gutted” by the damage sustained to the stand, several precious works of art managed to escape the fire without being destroyed.
Acting Deputy Fire Chief Dennis Smith said firefighters worked quickly to control the fire as it threatened to spread across the wooden grandstand.
“Being such an old building, there’s definitely a good chance it could spread and become a pretty major fire, but the initial crews did a really good job,” Mr Smith said.
“We had about 17 fire trucks and resources on scene and I think there were over 70 firefighters on scene, so everyone worked pretty hard.”
Smith confirmed there were no injuries to either the horse or the man, but one firefighter was treated in hospital for a cut hand.
Police have obtained copies of CCTV footage which is expected to play an important role in the ongoing investigations into the cause of the fire (pictured, emergency services at the scene)
The fire occurred just a day before a sunset race on the new Caulfield Heath track at the racecourse.
But the MRC announced later on Tuesday that the competition would take place at nearby Mornington Racecourse.
“Although the running surface was not affected, building inspectors, health officials and investigators are inspecting the site,” the statement read.
“Consequently, the MRC considered it in the best interest of all parties to call now to transfer tomorrow’s race meeting to avoid further disruption to participants and sponsors.”
There are still concerns over the availability of the course in the run-up to one of its busiest periods as it hosts the Blue Diamond Stakes, CF Orr Stakes and Oakleigh Plate in February.