A BLAZE at Gordyn's Abattoir on Cobains Rd, Sale, earlier this week is being investigated by the Country Fire Authority (CFA).
Sale CFA operations manager Colin Brown said a staff member, doing rounds at the nearby RAAF base, noticed flames coming from the abattoir, just after 3am on Tuesday.
Mr Brown said it took three CFA tankers and a special breathing apparatus unit from Traralgon half an hour to bring the flames under control.
“Once they arrived, they realised the fire had extended into the killing area and the boning area, basically the whole covered area,” Mr Brown said.
“Their conclusion is that it was most likely caused by electrical fault.
“It looks like it’s going to be a complete pull down and rebuild, there’s complete structural collapse of the roof.
“They also had carcases hanging in there, so there will be that cost, as well as the building cost.”
Rosedale Butcher’s Matthew Vaux said the shop took all its beef, lamb and pork from Gordyns.
“It’s going to be hard to get local beef now, because it was the only local abbatoir,” Mr Vaux said.
The fire was likely to have a big impact on other regional butchers, as the closest meatworks to Sale were now at Orbost – a four hour round trip - and Warragul.
”They also took stock from as far away as Garfield to Wonthaggi, so it’s massive,” he said.
It was hoped the abbatoir would re-open.
The abbatoir had been run by the Gordyn family for more than 50 years.
