A Kmart store caught fire, forcing hundreds of customers to leave a shopping complex in the west of Melbourne.
About 200 customers were forced to leave the Altona Gate store at around 4 p.m. on Tuesday when many clothes racks were purposefully set on fire, according to police, which caused the emergency.
The roughly “5m by 5m” fire was put out by interior sprinklers, and emergency personnel were able to contain it in 20 minutes.
All people within the centre at the time have been accounted for and no one was injured. Firefighters were met with “extensive smoke” and say it was initially “difficult” to know where the blaze had started.
The incident has been deemed suspicious.
“(I was) quite panicked because you don’t think something like this can happen,” one shopper told 7NEWS. A spokesperson for centre owners Vicinity said: “The safety of our customers, retailers and teams is our first priority”.
“We are planning the centre will be open as usual (on Wednesday),” a spokesperson said. Police are investigating and have appealed for information.
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