Work continues to minimise environmental impact of massive St Marys fire

Emergency crews remained on the scene today. Photo: Melinda Jane.
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Over 100 firefighters and 20 fire trucks have successfully contained a major blaze at a commercial recycling plant in St Marys.

Firefighters were called to Cleanaway Liquid Waste Services on Christie Street in St Marys shortly before 2.00pm on Tuesday after reports of an explosion and a fire.

Fire and Rescue NSW (FRNSW) responded to the incident and employed a fleet of specialised drones to assist firefighters with operational awareness, safety and runoff containment.

FRNSW Assistant Commissioner Michael Morris said the blaze was officially contained by 6.30pm Tuesday evening, but firefighters continue to deal with small flare ups.

“We have continued work throughout the night and again this morning just dealing with some minor flareups and areas continuing to smolder throughout the site,” Morris said.

FRNSW Assistant Commissioner Michael Morris. Photo: Melinda Jane.

The unpredictable nature of the chemicals at the scene made it harder for the firefighters to manage the situation.

“This was an extremely dangerous and challenging fire to contain. This site contained a whole range of hazardous materials of all the classes that are available…” Morris said.

“Once the fire takes hold, the risk for the approaching firefighters is the unknown mixing of those chemicals, as we saw in the early phase’s extensive explosions and the spreading of material throughout the site.”

FRNSW are working with the NSW Environmental Protection Authority (NSW EPA) and ComCare to manage the risks of chemical run-off.

“[The drone technology] also enabled us to, both in the early phases of the fire and throughout today to track and monitor where the runoff has gone in the environment and to work with the EPA to provide assurance to both the EPA and the community that the very effective actions taken by firefighters early in the phase identified where the runoff was going and successfully put in place booms to contain the runoff,” Morris said.

Crews on the scene today. Photo: Melinda Jane.

“We’ve continued to monitor that with the EPA to provide assurance to the community that we’re doing all we can to protect the environment.”

FRNSW is working with NSW Police to investigate the cause of the blaze but are encouraged that there were no serious injuries.

“We were very fortunate that the fire actually appears to have started on the outside part of the premises and all the workers from the site were able to rapidly evacuate,” Morris said.

“As a result of the intense heat yesterday and the intense operations that the firefighters were involved in, two of our firefighters were treated for heat stress. We are very grateful that is the extent of the injuries and that everyone escaped safely.”

The fire on Christie Street, St Marys. Photo: 7NEWS.

Whilst the blaze continued FRNSW recommended local residents keep their windows shut but have confirmed there is no ongoing threat to public safety.
Evacuations of nearby homes and businesses took place on Tuesday afternoon.

“We have gas detection equipment spread throughout the site and again using that drone technology we are taking periodic flights with gas detection heads to make sure that it’s safe for us to continue to operate,” Morris said.

The drone technology used to assist in containing this blaze is relatively new to the FRNSW arsenal but is changing the way fires are fought, according to FRNSW Team Leader of Aviation Russell Turner.

“[We deployed] five drones quickly across the whole fire ground,” Turner said.

New drone technology helps fire crews battle blazes. Photo: Melinda Jane.

“Three of those drones were providing livestreams straight back to the command point so that we could make sure that our water was being put in the right spot at the right time and reduce runoff because we were aware of the potential runoff problems that could happen.”

Investigations into the cause of the fire continue.

Emily Chate

Emily Chate joined The Western Weekender in 2024, and covers local news - primarily courts and politics. A graduate of the University of Wollongong, Emily has contributed to The Daily Telegraph and worked as a freelance journalist.


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