ALWAYS TURN THE GAS OFF

 

The fire ravaged  haus kaikai. picture by RITA PEKI in Hagen.

KAI BAR BURNS TO THE GROUND

by RITA PEKI

PROUDLY old and going strong. She was the pride of the Hagen town from the beginning. 

But her strength dwindled and blew up in a puff of smoke and fire in the early hours of Tuesday morning.

Melpa Haus Kai, where the food was hot and smiling faces welcome your hunger to a hot meal is not longer the hot haus.

It lies in smoldering ruins in the middle of Mount Hagen city.

The cause of the fire - carelessness.

When you are cooking with gas, always be very careful. It's not like fuel oil, petrol, diesel or zoom where you can see the liquid in the open and know something is wrong.

Gas is unseen. You can only smell a wiff of it.

On Tuesday, someone left a cooking gas bottle open and the escaping gas became a very volatile danger.

A light and all of Melpa was gone. The smell of kaukau and chips replaced by the odour of destruction. 

Melpa Haus Kai was burnt to the ground destroying food, equipment for cooking material.

Melpa Haus Kai was very popular with traveller's from all over the Highlands. Located in a bus stop area, people from all walks of life passed through its Kai Bar before boarding buses to go home.

It is believed that the fire started at 2am and continued throughout the morning with smoke still coming out from the shop building.

Police were on the ground to stop the public from entering the shop premises as well as opportunists from trying to steal any goods remaining in the building.

The fire ravaged Melpa haus kaikai. picture by RITA PEKI in Hagen.

The fire service investigation is currently going on. A senior fire office could not disclose any information. 

The Provincial Police Commander was unavailable but according to police personnel who were on the ground guarding the property in the morning, they told the Post-Courier newspaper that the gas was unintentionally left open and when one of the workers lit a match, the whole building went up in flames as gas was circulating inside the building.

The fire had no effect on the other shops nearby and due to the level of structural fire damage, investigations were limited and undetermined.