A big industrial fire at the Healesville shopping centre has left destroyed a dry cleaning service and taken more than three hours to extinguish.

Fire crews were called to the blaze at midnight but needed specialist equipment to douse the fire, which engulfed the 150-metre by 30-metre building.

The Country Fire Authority had to call in the help of the Metropolitan Fire Brigade when it realised the extent of the chemical-fuelled fire in the 90-year-old building.
It took 16 fire fighting appliances to battle the Maroondah Highway blaze, which threatened to take hold of the country town's main strip.

Locals were tweeting that French's Laundry and Dry Cleaning Services was now just rubble after the roof collapsed.

CFA's Mark Kennedy told the ABC that the flames were more than nine metres high when crews arrived on the scene.

"The roof had collapsed into the building and to one side of the building was a row of shops, including a bank and a supermarket that were immediately under threat," he said.

 Aja Styles

Reporter, theage.com.au