Caulfield Racecourse fire: Twist after blaze destroys grandstand as Victoria Police make major arrest

A man has been arrested after he was allegedly caught on CCTV starting a fire that caused extensive damage to the Grade II listed grandstand at Caulfield Racecourse.

A fire ripped through the grandstand of the circuit in Melbourne’s east just before 6.20am on Tuesday.

An investigation into the origins of the fire was launched by Victoria Police shortly after it was brought under control at around 7am.

A 51-year-old man was arrested at Mordialloc train station in the south-east of the city at around 1.45pm, following reports of several grass fires in the area.

CCTV footage obtained by the Norman Robinson Tribune showed the man allegedly dragging a waste container to a higher level before adding extra paper and setting it on fire, reports said.

Police will allege the man started the fire in a section of the stand with wooden decking, allowing the fire to spread quickly.

The fire caused extensive damage to the catering areas of the stand, but it would have been even worse if it had not been for a ‘state of the art’ sprinkler system.

The wooden floor in the old stand caused the fire to spread quickly, resulting in ‘millions’ in damage (photo)

Melbourne Racing Club president John Kanga said the historic grandstand does not need to be demolished but will require significant repairs.

“I’m not a builder, but from what I saw this morning the damage will be in the millions,” Kanga said.

While staff and members were ‘devastated’ by the damage to the stand, a number of valuable works of art managed to escape the fire.

Acting Assistant Fire Officer Dennis Smith said firefighters worked quickly to control the fire as it threatened to spread across the wooden stand.

“Because it’s such an old building there’s certainly a lot of potential for that to expand and cause quite a large fire, but really good work from the initial crews,” Mr Smith said.

“We had about 17 fire engines and resources on site and I think there were over 70 firefighters on site so they all worked quite hard.”

Mr Smith confirmed there were no injuries to horses or staff, but one firefighter was treated in hospital for a cut to the hand.

Police have obtained copies of the CCTV footage that is expected to play a role in the ongoing investigation into the cause of the fire (photo, emergency services on scene)

The fire started just a day ahead of a twilight race at the racecourse’s new Caulfield Heath circuit.

But the MRC announced on Tuesday that the meeting would be moved to Mornington Racecourse.

“Although the racing surface was not affected, building inspectors, health officials and investigators are currently inspecting the site,” the statement read.

‘Accordingly, the MRC believed it was in the best interests of all parties to make the call now to reschedule tomorrow’s race meeting to avoid further disruption to participants and patrons.’

There are still concerns about track availability ahead of one of its busiest periods, which sees the Blue Diamond Stakes, CF Orr Stakes and Oakleigh Plate held in February.