A Mowbray company has been left “dumbfounded” after an arson attack at its timber yard this week.
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Neville-Smith Forest Products was targeted on Tuesday night, with 240 racks of its timber destroyed in a deliberately-lit blaze.
More than 40 firefighters spent almost 24 hours tackling the fire.
While initial reports suggested about $800,000 of stock was lost, Neville-Smith chief executive Andrew Walker said the figure could rise as they continue to survey the damage.
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Mr Walker said the Tasmanian Oak timber generally took about 12 months to dry, and the company was nine months into that process with the stock that was destroyed.
“It takes a lot of time and effort to procure that amount of stock,” he said.
“The timber was destined for markets all over Australia and also internationally.”
He said the damage, however, could have been far worse.
“If the whole site had gone up … material cost would have been in the order of 10 million dollars.”
The company is discussing the possibility of a reward for information with Crime Stoppers.
Anyone with information about the fire should contact police on 131 444 or Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000.