{"id":115597,"date":"2025-09-03T12:06:12","date_gmt":"2025-09-03T12:06:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/115597\/"},"modified":"2025-09-03T12:06:12","modified_gmt":"2025-09-03T12:06:12","slug":"morley-market-business-owners-devastated-by-fire-that-destroyed-popular-shopping-spot","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/115597\/","title":{"rendered":"Morley Market: Business owners devastated by fire that destroyed popular shopping spot"},"content":{"rendered":"

Heartbroken business owners have spoken of their devastation over a fire that left the Morley Market completely gutted.<\/p>\n

Almost a dozen businesses \u2014 most of which are family-owned \u2014 were destroyed in the blaze at Bishop Street in Morley, directly across from the Galleria shopping centre, about 12.40am on Wednesday.<\/p>\n

The fire incinerated about 5000sqm of property, ravaging businesses including including T4 bubble tea, Monte Carlo barber, Far East Imports Asian grocery store, HY mobile phone repairs and May Beauty. The blaze contained and controlled by 8am and no one was injured.<\/p>\n

And in a late twist, police have backtracked on their earlier claim that the fire was suspicious.<\/p>\n

Dozens of firefighters were still at the scene on Wednesday morning, with thick smoke billowing out of debris.<\/p>\n

Bishop Street Newsagency\u2019s Peter Nguyen said the inferno had destroyed his store.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have been in business here for 20 years and have lost everything in this disaster,\u201d he said in a social media post.<\/p>\n

\"OvernightCamera IconOvernight fire at Morley Market. Credit: Supplied<\/p>\n

Alice, whose mother has owned May Beauty for the past three years, said she received the devastating news about 3am on Wednesday.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m really saddened . . . I want to find out who did this,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cHopefully locals will continue to support us when we reopen.\u201d<\/p>\n

Early in the investigation, WA Police Commissioner Col Blanch said officers had obtained CCTV footage that suggested the blaze was started by a firebug, but police later said the fire had been deemed non-suspicious.<\/p>\n

\"OvernightCamera IconOvernight fire at Morley Market.
\n Credit: Supplied<\/p>\n

\u201cOur heart breaks for those small business owners confronting (the news of the fire) in the morning, and even the community of Morley; (Morley Market) is probably a place that they knew very fondly,\u201d he told ABC Radio.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe arson squad are down there, we are officially on the hunt for that person or persons who are responsible.\u201d<\/p>\n

Morley local Karl described the fire as \u201cdevastating\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s terrible, it\u2019s finished, there\u2019s no rebuilding here,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey\u2019re going to have to flip it and rebuild.\u201d<\/p>\n

He said the complex was owned by about a dozen separate shop owners.<\/p>\n

\"GENCamera IconGEN Morley Market after overnight fire. Credit: Michael Wilson\/The West Autralian<\/p>\n

Morley MP Amber-Jade Sanderson said the blaze was \u201cdevastating\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey have been the heart of our town centre long before Galleria came along,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere are many small businesses who have been there for decades and my thoughts are with them.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mr Blanch said there was nothing to suggest the fire was linked to the notorious tobacco wars.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere are no shops that fit that description (of selling illegal tobacco),\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\"GENCamera IconGEN Morley Market after overnight fire. Credit: Michael Wilson\/The West Autralian<\/p>\n

Late on Wednesday afternoon a police spokeswoman said the fire was not suspicious, a conclusion reached after an \u201cextensive investigation\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cNo criminality has been detected,\u201d the spokeswoman said. \u201cDFES investigators will continue to examine the scene to determine the cause of the fire.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Heartbroken business owners have spoken of their devastation over a fire that left the Morley Market completely gutted.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":115598,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[64,63,8984,44,46,45],"class_list":{"0":"post-115597","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-australia","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-disaster-and-emergency","11":"tag-news","12":"tag-perth","13":"tag-wa-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/115597","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=115597"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/115597\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/115598"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=115597"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=115597"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=115597"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}