Smoke causes Coles evacuation

It’s believed an ‘air-conditioning failure’ caused the evacuation of staff and customers from Coles supermarket in Narrabri, last Thursday.

Narrabri Fire and Rescue Station Commander Shane Bradford said the evacuation happened after the “sighting and smell of smoke” from the upstairs office ceiling area.

Commander Bradford said crews entered with breathing apparatus, gas detection equipment and thermal imaging cameras to look for the source.

“With the assistance of Narrabri Electrical we cleared the site to make sure there was sure no toxic smoke in the areas.”

Emergency crews including ambulance and police offices attended the scene but no one was harmed and staff and customers were able to return to the supermarket within an hour.

“The lightning and weather may have contributed,” added Commander Bradford.