16 November 2020

Emergency services called to another fire at AMC, second incident in a week

| Dominic Giannini
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Alexander Maconochie Centre

A fire broke out at one of the cottages at the Alexander Maconochie Centre (AMC) on Saturday night (14 November). Photo: File.

A fire broke out in the foyer of a two-storey cottage at the Alexander Maconochie Centre (AMC) – the SC2 accommodation unit foyer – just after 11:00 pm on Saturday (14 November).

No detainees or staff members were injured in the blaze which damaged the flooring material of the stairs on the ground floor.

READ MORE Poor discipline and violence inside AMC has guards at breaking point: whistleblower

ACT Corrective Services (ACTCS) officers extinguished the fire. Three ACT Fire and Rescue trucks also attended the scene.

ACTCS says it is still investigating the cause of the fire but a prison officer, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, told Region Media that it was deliberately lit by an inmate.

READ MORE Police called to Alexander Maconochie Centre every three days, new data shows

The incident follows a stand-off between 27 inmates and prison officers on Tuesday, 10 November. In that incident, four fires were lit by detainees and two cells sustained fire damage.

ACT Policing responded to 112 incidents at the AMC between 1 November 2019 and 31 October 2020 including five fire-related incidents.

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