"An oxyacetylene welding kit had to be cooled for more than an hour after the incident."

Can you please indulge me, as a purely academic exercise if nothing else, by not assuming that every person in Coffs Harbour is so expert in oxyacetylene welding that they will read the above concluding sentence and think "Ah, yes. That makes perfect sense."

Is it supposed that the kit was instrumental in causing the fire? Or is it merely a detail intended to personalise the terrible damage wrought by the fire? Are there manly men all over Coffs currently hugging their oxyacetylene kits close to their tattooed chests, shocked to the core by the mental image of a badly singed spigot or nozzle?