UPDATE: Police are investigating a fire that gutted a popular pirate ship playground in Point Cook early Tuesday morning.
Point Cook CFA station officer Andrew Gibson said crews were called to the blaze in Alamanda estate about 2am. It took firefighters about half an hour to bring it under control.
The cause of the fire is under investigation.
Developer Villawood Properties opened the playground at the $1.5 million Bayview Park in 2008.
The playground attracted controversy in 2009 when several children sustained injuries on its 20-metre high slide.
Villawood Properties executive director Rory Costelloe said that despite these early problems, the park became “one of the most famous playgrounds’’ in Melbourne. “We are shocked this icon has been destroyed. Children are the ones that will suffer from this incident.”
Villawood will work with Wyndham council to reopen the playground as soon as possible.
