One young man and two teenage girls were arrested after the Woodcroft Neighbourhood Centre went up in flames on January 8, 2015 early Thursday morning.
Firemen from a nearby fire station and neighbouring suburbs raced to the Woodcroft Drive centre at 2am after receiving reports that the building was on fire.
Crews from Blacktown, Schofields, Seven Hills, Huntingwood, Mt Druitt, Parramatta and Northmead battled the blaze for nearly two hours before managing to extinguish the fire.
A 19-year-old man from Doonside was charged with three counts of damaging a property by fire, setting fire to public property and break and enter to destroy property. He was refused bail to appear before Blacktown Court the following week.
A 17-year-old girl from Parklea and another 17-year-old girl from Katoomba were charged with break and enter and destroying property. They were granted conditional bail to appear before a children’s court on February 12.
The neighbourhood centre is owned by Blacktown Council. As of this writing, council officers in coordination with insurance adjusters were still assessing the damage to the building.
Woodcroft Neighbourhood Centre is a popular venue for parties and other functions including the annual Christmas Party hosted by Woodcroft Spiritual Services. Prior to the fire, the place was booked by a young couple for a wedding reception scheduled for this month.