People living near the Hemmant fire, including those in Tingalpa and Cannon Hill, are being advised to keep their windows and doors shut.Most of the factory’s roof collapsed overnight, preventing firefighters from getting into the building to fight the blaze.
Earthmoving equipment will be brought in today to assist in the fight, with 28 firefighters remaining on scene this morning.The fire, which started on Wednesday afternoon, could burn for several days, fire authorities say. After more than six hours of battling the blaze, firefighters managed to contain the fire late last night but it could be days before it is entirely extinguished. Fire crews will remain on scene to ensure the blaze burns within the 4500sq m recycling warehouse. More than 20,000 cubic metres of compressed cardboard caught alight within the warehouse, with a “significant roof collapse” reported from the scene.Queensland Fire and Emergency Services were called to the scene at around 2.30pm with reports cardboard inside a warehouse on Gosport St, Hemmant, was on fire.
QFES Acting Superintendent Tim Clarke said the fire had caused “large volumes of smoke” and he warned locals who could smell smoke to stay indoors. Police told motorists to avoid the area while the huge plumes of smoke remained.
QFES also advised those suffering from a respiratory condition to keep their medications close by.
QAS Officer in charge Paige Harris also warned people to stay out of the area because of the dangerous pollutants in the air.“There are several large commercial structures engulfed with fire here and it’s causing quite a lot of smoke by-product and ash falling in the area,” Ms Harris said.“We’d like to encourage residents in the nearby areas to stay inside, keep the windows shut and just keep out of the area because there are quite a lot of pollutants in the air.
“It’s actually a recycling plant so large commercial structures, it is quite a large area spanning about approximately 1 (square) km in size.”A Queensland Police spokesman said a number of businesses surrounding the fire were evacuated as a precautionary measure.
Josh Moore, who works at another industrial site in Gosport St, said the sky was filled with black spoke and the smell of chemicals is overwhelming.“It’s a pretty strong smell of lots of chemicals, real toxic… it smells like burnt polystyrene,” he said.
“They’ve blocked the street off so you can leave the street but you can’t enter the street.“It could potentially get dangerous if they don’t get it under control, there is a lot of containers here too, we’ve got containers at the yard and sometimes they can have hazardous material inside so if it spreads then we are in trouble.“The smoke has turned white now but it was pretty black before, so hopefully they’ve got it under control.”
Footage of a huge fire at a facility at Hemmant. Video: 7 News
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