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16 JULY, 2024
Fire sparks questions By Gerald Lynch, with AAP Western suburbs residents have questioned the management and storage of toxic chemicals in area, following a significant blaze at a Derrimut factory last Wednesday which blanketed parts of the west in thick smoke. The inferno was sparked by an explosion at ACB Group’s chemical blending factory on Swann Drive about 11.20am on July 10. More than 180 firefighters battled the blaze, which took hours to control. Several hotspots were still smouldering on Friday, with fire crews waiting for the site to be demolished before the blaze could be snuffed out. No one was injured and the cause of the blaze is unknown. Fire Rescue Victoria deputy commissioner Josh Fischer said authorities would remain on the scene for days, if not weeks.
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For too long the west has been a haven for toxic corporations, with no regard for the health and lives of those living here
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- Catherine Robinson “This is a complex and dangerous environment, there are a lot of hazards associated with this incident so we’re taking extreme caution and care as we manage those risks for our firefighters from the time of the incident and into the future,” he said. It has been confirmed the blaze was at the same factory where a worker died and two were injured in a fire last year. The Environment Protection Authority (EPA) issued the site with two notices and inspected it nine times since that first explosion and found it to be compliant. The EPA’s Steve Lansdell told ABC Radio Melbourne the environmental watchdog would work with WorkSafe and other regulators, given there are are still investigations into the 2023 incident. Western suburbs resident and Victorian Socialists spokeswoman Catherine Robinson said she was sick of seeing these issues in the western suburbs. “For too long the west has been a haven for toxic corporations, with no regard for the health and lives of those living here. Workers in our suburbs deserve safe workplaces, residents deserve liveable communities. This is a clear systemic failure,”
The factory fire in Derrimut. (Pictures: AAP Image/James Ross)
she said. Western Metropolitan MP David Ettershank questioned the management and storage of toxic chemicals in Melbourne’s west. “The west is traditionally a dumping ground for noxious storage and industries and I don’t believe there is enough regard for the safety of residents in this setting,” he said. The Anti-Toxic Waste Alliance was formed after a similar factory fire in West Footscray in 2018 and several other blazes at recycling plants in the same region. It’s spokesperson Colleen Hartland said it was concerning and the repeated emergencies lessen the community’s faith in the regulators.
“If the regulators are going in, why is it that this still happened? “What is it about these kind of places that you know, even after the death of a worker, they go on to a year later to have another massive fire?” Premier Jacinta Allan said agencies had enough powers to investigate the lead up to and fallout from the “deeply dangerous” fire. Locals have been told to keep themselves and their pets away from Kayes Drain, Cherry Creek, Laverton Creek and Andersons Swamp. Mr Lansdell said the EPA’s focus was on managing community and environmental impacts from firewater runoff seeping into nearby waterways. He said real-time water
sensors had been placed along Laverton Creek and Cherry Creek, as well as the inlet and outlet of Cherry Lake. No impacts have been detected at Cherry Lake but lower dissolved oxygen levels have been picked up in Laverton Creek. Contamination from chemical storage sites includes a diverse range of toxic substances such as per and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) and heavy metals. A fire in a Footscray-Tottenham chemical factory in 2018 resulted in levels of PFAS chemicals 16 times higher than the safe recreational water quality levels downstream from the site for two weeks after the incident.
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