Owner of Torquay Fish and Chips says Friday night's fire will not bring an end to 10 years of hard work

BY NATHAN HALE

TORQUAY Fish and Chips owner Jim Tsiantas has vowed to rebuild his beloved shop after it was gutted by fire on Friday night.

For the past decade, Tsiantas has built the Gilbert Street store into one of the town's most popular food shops.

At around 10pm on Friday night, after Tsiantas had cleaned and locked up the shop, he received 
a call from a friend saying the shop was on fire.

"I was - and still am - in shock... I don't really know what to say," he said yesterday.

"From what I have been told by the investigators it looks as though there was a fault inside one of the fryers."

Despite the fire, Tsiantas said the shop will reopen as soon as possible - and he also took time to thank his loyal customers.

"I just want to take this opportunity to thank all of the locals who have been so loyal and supported us for many years," he said.

"And to all the customers, I want to say that we will be back and operational as soon as possible.

"I am looking forward to rebuilding the shop and everyone will see a bigger, better and brighter fish and chip shop.

"As soon as we can, we will be back up and running."

Torquay Crime Investigation Unit detective sergeant, Craig Blunt, said investigations are currently being carried out by Energy Safe Victoria.

Blunt said police guarded the shop throughout Friday evening, cordoning it off, and it remained this way until Saturday when investigators had removed the vat.

The shopfront is currently boarded up.

"There is no issue whatsoever as to everything being turned off," he said.

"It just appears to be one of those electrical faults that can happen.

"There looks as though there was a malfunction of some sort in the units that sit under vat three of the fryers.

"It appears as though this has turned on the vat and knocked out the thermostats which meant the oil kept heating and heating and has eventually caught fire.

"The CFA and Energy Safe Victoria are investigating in conjunction with each other, and Energy Safe Victoria has taken the unit away for investigation, but it does seem as though it was purely an electrical fault.

"It is unfortunately one of those things that can happen."

In other news from the weekend, Blunt and the crime unit is investigating a buck's night incident which left an Anglesea Hotel bouncer with fractures to his face.

The group had been drinking at the Aireys Inlet Hotel before moving onto Anglesea, where they were refused entry as they were intoxicated.

A scuffle ensued, with the bouncer knocked 
to the ground and attacked by a member of the party. One man has been arrested in relation to the assault.