A QUICK-thinking Big W employee prevented a possible disaster on Wednesday when she extinguished a fire in the Tweed City Shopping Centre department store.

Police believe a set of tracksuit pants had been deliberately lit and thrown onto a rack of clothing, sparking the small blaze about 4.30pm.

Inspector Darren Steel of Tweed police said it was the actions of the employee, who risked her own safety to extinguish the fire, that averted the potential disaster.   

“A female staff member saw the fire and grabbed a dry powder fire extinguisher and was able to put it out,” Insp Steel said.  

The employee’s quick thinking meant the fire was extinguished before the store’s fire alarm was activated.  

However the materials in the extinguisher caused the woman to suffer an asthma attack and she was later taken to Tweed Hospital, Insp Steel said.  

While there were no serious injuries,  it was believed thousands of dollars worth of clothes were damaged.  

A Tweed Heads Fire Station officer reported 40 people were evacu- ated from the Big W store.   

Big W failed to return calls made by The Daily News yesterday and Tweed City Shopping Centre management declined to comment while police continued to investigate.  

Anyone who witnessed the incident and has not yet spoken with police or has any information that could assist police with their investigation, can contact Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000.