Local designer Joy Decarne was devastated to find out that sometime in the early hours of Saturday, an electrical fault in her shop Bamboo Lifestyle, caused a fire that destroyed all her stock.
‘The fire brigade arrived at 6.30am but the electrical fault from the wiring happened earlier,’ said Ms Decarne . ‘We are not one hundred percent sure when exactly it started. The police said it started from a fault behind the counter.’
Joy and her family, who live locally, opened the business about two years ago on Burringbar Street. She says she is not sure about the status of insurance as it wasn’t possible to find out over the weekend.
There is some fire damage and a lot of smoke damage. ’We think nothing is salvageable, but we can’t confirm that yet,’ said Ms Decarne. ‘We are shattered. We spent our life building up to this – we are so passionate about sustainable products.’
The area outside the shop was cordoned off on Saturday morning while police checked inside the premises, Chief Inspector Michael Dempsey from the Tweed-Byron LAC said there were no suspicious circumstances.
Ms Decarne who runs the business with her sons and a daughter-in-law, says they are endeavouring to get their website going in the next few days. ‘That’s so our customers can still purchase our products,’ she said. ‘We design and make our own bamboo clothing which is very rare, but will be out of action in the retail outlet for sometime.’
Ms Decarne says the family intend to rebuild and continue in the Mullumbimby community and are so grateful for everyone’s kind thoughts. ‘We would like to thank all our amazing customers for their well wishes and support.’
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