One of Melbourne’s largest fires in years continues to burn in the city’s west, closing schools and childcare centres as well as prompting health warnings from the toxic smoke.
The Melbourne, Metropolitan Fire Brigade (MFB) said the Tottenham fire began early Thursday morning and about 150 firefighters were fighting the fire, with 30 trucks and aerial platforms on the scene. It was a mammoth task to contain the fire to the building of origin but confinement tactic where successful and no fire spread occurred.
The fire took 20hrs for the fire to be declared under control, however, the factory/warehouse is so large (approx. 150m x 150m) it will take days to extinguish all the hot spots. In the meantime, the MFB along with the EPA is attempting to contain water runoff and smoke pollution from the site.
There is, however, visible run-off water in Stoney Creek which feeds into the Yarra River and Hobson’s Bay, people are advised to stay clear of the water and keep their pets from the stream.
At the height of the fire, the smoke plume travelled up to 10 kilometres from the site covering a large part of Melbourne.
The factory at the centre of a huge fire spewing toxic smoke over large swathes of Melbourne is owned by an accountant recently targeted in massive raids by the tax office.
The cause has not been established at this time.
Image for illustration purposes only.
