Fire breaks out in San Remo Ballroom foyer
Melbourne institution the San Remo Ballroom has been spared by an early morning fire on Monday, after a blaze took hold in the foyer.
The Metropolitan Fire Brigade was called to the Carlton function venue on Nicholson Street at 3.30am, after a passerby noticed smoke spewing from the building and crackling noises.
Investigators are yet to determine the cause of a fire that broke out in the foyer of the San Remo Ballroom in Carlton on Monday morning.Credit:Simon Schluter
Twenty-eight firefighters found the two-storey building "heavily smoke-logged with a fire spreading from the foyer onto the first floor", the MFB said.
Crews wearing breathing apparatus attacked the blaze from inside the building and brought it under control within an hour.
The ballroom itself was spared, but the foyer was seriously damaged and a dance studio on the first floor was also ravaged by the blaze.
"The fire was contained to the foyer and actually didn't enter the ballroom which was a really good result, because there were silk sheets hanging all through the roof and a lot of combustible materials in there," MFB Commander Ed Starinskas told ABC radio.
A fire broke out in the San Remo Ballroom in the early hours of Monday morning.Credit:MFB
"The MFB fire crews did a fantastic job at keeping the fire to the foyer of the building, but there's substantial damage to the foyer and to some adjoining rooms."
The Clifton Dance Studio relocated to the venue's upper level at the start of 2019, but dance classes are now cancelled indefinitely after fire ripped through one of the dance studios.
Dance school director Kealy Fouracre told The Age she was particularly "devastated and heartbroken" for the young ballet students she teaches.
Marlo, 7, Ruby, 17, and Madeline, 17, at the Clifton Dance School above the San Remo Ballroom which has been damaged by a fire. Credit:Jake Fouracre Photography
While managers have been told the dance space is "salvageable", she said the school is now looking for an interim venue.
"We're celebrating our 40th year as a school and now we’re just urgently looking for a space so we can get going again," Ms Fouracre said. "It's been such a shock of a day."
A San Remo Ballroom manager told The Age on Monday morning that they had not yet been let into the building to see the extent of the damage and determine whether booked events could go ahead as planned.
The venue's owners said on social media that those who had organised events at the "beloved" ballroom would be contacted by management but the future of their bookings remained in limbo.
Firefighters arrived within three minutes and were able to stop the fire from spreading into the ballroom itself.Credit:Simon Schluter
"We will develop a plan to repair and restore our iconic venue, aiming to be back in business as quickly as possible, with minimal inconvenience to our clients," management said.
Nobody was at the San Remo Ballroom at the time of the fire and it has not yet been determined what sparked it.
The art deco San Remo Ballroom has been a renowned wedding and party venue since 1963.
From the early 1900s it had been a cycling school, a roller skating rink, a furniture store and the Adelphi Theatre before it was turned into the San Remo Ballroom.
MFB will investigate the cause of the fire at the ballroom on Monday.
The fire shut down Nicholson Street in the early hours of the morning, with Victoria Police helping to manage traffic.
Trams reopened at 5am but city bound traffic only starting flowing about 6am. All traffic was reopened by 6.30am.