A third fire in six weeks just tore through Melbourne's Richmond strip

Ten shops on Victoria Street, Richmond went up before dawn on Monday, and this time nobody's calling it a coincidence.

Firefighters were called just after 4.15am after a vehicle was rammed into a building before the offenders set it alight and fled. More than 80 firefighters and almost 30 trucks fought the blaze, and the street stayed closed to cars and trams for hours through Melbourne's morning peak. Nobody was hurt.

Victoria Police believe the target was a tobacco store housed inside the building, one of several businesses caught in the fire. That makes it the third attack on Richmond in six weeks, after a firebombing at a Bridge Road tobacconist on 1 July and an attack on a Swan Street car dealership in May.

Yarra mayor Stephen Jolly did not hold back. "Melbourne is the most beautiful city, it is the best place to live in the world, in my opinion, but it's got this cancer of unchecked firebombings," he told SBS News.

This is the same fight that's been running for years now: organised crime groups battling for control of the illegal tobacco trade, using firebombings, extortion and worse to push rivals out. Victoria Street traders are the ones stuck in the crossfire, watching their strip get treated like a battleground over a black market they have nothing to do with.

Ten shops burning before sunrise should force a serious response, not another headline that fades by Thursday. Melbourne has had firebombings roll through this same pocket of Richmond three times now, and the pattern is only getting bolder.

If you run a business anywhere near Victoria Street or Bridge Road, keep an eye on your street and your neighbours. And if you're a local, maybe skip the illegal tobacco shop altogether. Whatever margin they're offering isn't worth what's happening on that strip right now.