Adelaide Signage business destroyed by fire

Rodney Robertson signage facility in Edwardstown SA, destroyed by fire.

On December 16, About 60 firefighters put out the large fire in Edwardstown. (ABC News) Firefighters remained all day at the scene of a large commercial blaze at Edwardstown that started early in the morning. Triple-0 calls raised the alarm at about 2:00 am for the fire at a warehouse off South Road between Angus Avenue and Ackland Street, near the Maid of Auckland Hotel. Sixty firefighters were called to help, with a significant damage bill expected after the signage company premises was gutted.

The Metropolitan Fire Service (MFS) warned residents about plastic toxins released from the fire. MFS commander Declan Dwyer said firefighters were concerned about the blaze spreading to other buildings in the industrial area. "It was a deeply-seated fire, a very high fuel load, and there were obviously many materials related to printing presses and display facilities, so it was very well fed," he said. "But the other side of it that we were considering was that other buildings surrounded the building on fire, and it's only in the vicinity of a couple of metres in some cases. "Our primary purpose was to save the other buildings which were under very serious threat." He said firefighters would stay all day at the scene to access the smouldering fuel load inside.

Rodney Roberston Signage was founded in 1948. The long-time owner is Malcolm Miller. It is one of the most significant sign and display businesses in SA and produces a host of signage, POS and display print for blue-chip clients, including AusPost, Channel 9 and Mercedes Benz. It was almost a year since fire destroyed another Adelaide sign business, Big Image on Boxing day 2020.  Adelaide's local news media reports the fire chief ruling out anything suspicious from the Robertson blaze.