A year to rebuild: fire demolishes iconic WA restaurant

Iconic Busselton foreshore restaurant and bar, The Goose, has been destroyed by an early morning fire at 3.46am on Monday.

Busselton Jetty chief executive Lisa Shreeve, told Triple M radio that the damage from the fire was so extensive that the restaurant will remain closed for at least a year.

The fire was so bad that DFES incident control officer Neil Mckay said the fire was a “total loss” for the community and may lead to the demolition of the building.

It took 35 firefighters to out the fire out.

“We received a call to say there was a fire at the site and on arrival we found the western side of the building, the utilities area, alight and we set out to put it out,” Mckay said.

“Unfortunately it had already got into the roof space and resulted in basically a total loss of the building.”

Owner of the Western Australian venue, Qi Eng, said the fire was “devastating for everyone”.

“The Goose has been a family for us and has provided a living for so many staff in the past, we are devastated.

“One hundred per cent we will rebuild it, we will bring it back as soon as we can. We will start to evaluate the loss and see what it takes to construct the building in the very near future,” she said.

In a message on instagram to customers on Monday morning, the restaurant’s management vowed to rebuild.

“We just want to say a big thank you for all the supportive and encouraging words this morning! We will put everything in to bring back an even better Goose in the near future!”

Irit Jackson, 14th April 2021