The acrid smell of smoke still hung in the air on Thursday morning as workers at UB Cool and MM Electrical arrived to start a shift that was over before it began.

The fire had gutted the building on Bowen St during Wednesday night, leaving devastated business owners to pick up the pieces.

An employee at a nearby business, who didn’t want to be named, said the fire had destroyed much of the structure by the time he arrived at work about 6am.

“It’s extensive, it’s gone, it’s finished,” he said.

“You can see the purlins have all melted, the roof has gone in, there’s no coming back from that.”

The man said the fire would be a devastating blow for the businesses’ workers and customers alike.

“There’s a lot of people out of work this morning so it’s pretty sad,” he said.

“You see a lot of people turning up there obviously looking for supplies or whatever and they’re just turned away.”