{"id":486430,"date":"2026-02-17T20:20:18","date_gmt":"2026-02-17T20:20:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/486430\/"},"modified":"2026-02-17T20:20:18","modified_gmt":"2026-02-17T20:20:18","slug":"cctv-captures-man-on-fire-after-firebomb-attack-on-thornton-convenience-store","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/486430\/","title":{"rendered":"CCTV captures man on fire after firebomb attack on Thornton convenience store"},"content":{"rendered":"

Closed circuit television (CCTV) footage has captured a man engulfed in flames running from a Hunter Valley business after it was set alight.<\/p>\n

NSW Police detectives have released the vision as they continue to investigate the suspicious fire at a convenience store on the New England Highway at Thornton, north-west of Newcastle, on February 10.<\/p>\n

Emergency crews were called to the business, which is open 24 hours a day, about 1:05am last Tuesday.<\/p>\n

CCTV footage from the area at the time shows two men wearing dark clothing and balaclavas walking towards the shop, with one of them carrying a container.<\/p>\n

A short time later, a man is seen running from the building with the lower half of his body engulfed in flames.<\/p>\n

Port Stephens-Hunter Police District crime manager, detective inspector Ranald Urquhart said the motive behind the Thornton fire was unknown at this stage.<\/p>\n

“It appears to be targeted and investigators have got a number of different lines of enquiry they’re following in that regard,” he said.<\/p>\n

He said the arson attack was an “unusual occurrence in Port Stephens Hunter”.<\/p>\n

\"CCTV<\/p>\n

CCTV captured this man being set on fire as he ran from a Hunter Valley convenience store. (Supplied: NSW Police)<\/p>\n

The vision also shows two men leaving the scene in a light-coloured hatchback.<\/p>\n

Police said the building sustained minimal structural damage, but a large amount of stock was destroyed and a cash register was stolen.<\/p>\n

Anyone with information is urged to contact Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000.<\/p>\n

\"An<\/p>\n

The convenience store is located in a shopping precinct in the Maitland area. (ABC Newcastle: Nakita Jager)<\/p>\n

Brock Manevski, the manager of a neighbouring store, told the ABC the shop had been targeted multiple times.<\/p>\n

“They’ve been open six or eight months now and have been broken into five or six times and now the arson attack, so it’s a lot,” he said.<\/p>\n

Mr Manevski said he was concerned the incident might deter people from coming to the shopping area.<\/p>\n

“Seeing as we’re sitting right next to it, it’s logical to think that people, especially later in the night, don’t want to come out here and grab their food, which is not good for us,” he said.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Brock Manevski says the convenience store next to his shop has experienced multiple break-ins in the past eight months. (ABC Newcastle: Nakita Jager)<\/p>\n

The ABC approached people working in the Thornton business about the incident, but they declined to comment.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Closed circuit television (CCTV) footage has captured a man engulfed in flames running from a Hunter Valley business…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":486431,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[29621,43,246071,44,4277,246072,86066,41,39,42,40],"class_list":{"0":"post-486430","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-headlines","8":"tag-arson","9":"tag-headlines","10":"tag-man-on-fire","11":"tag-news","12":"tag-nsw-police","13":"tag-suspicious-fire","14":"tag-thornton","15":"tag-top-news","16":"tag-top-stories","17":"tag-topnews","18":"tag-topstories"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/486430","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=486430"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/486430\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/486431"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=486430"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=486430"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=486430"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}