Firefighters out of hospital as fire crews remain on site at factory fire
Several firefighters who helped to contain a major factory fire in Melbourne will be monitored after their release from hospital. The massive blaze is under control, but crews are expected to remain onsite for days before it's fully extinguished.
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TVTranscript
00:00I'm here at the ACB group factory where a large chemical explosion sparked a fire on
00:08Wednesday.
00:09Now we've just spoken to Fire Rescue Victoria who say a number of firefighters were taken
00:15to hospital for monitoring after battling that blaze.
00:19Now they were all released but they will continue to be monitored for the impacts of those chemicals
00:24or potential impacts.
00:26Things like headaches, nosebleeds, those sorts of things.
00:29Now we're told about 20 firefighters remain here today and they will potentially remain
00:35here for a number of weeks as they continue to work on that fire.
00:39It is under control but there is significant structural damage in that building and there's
00:44still areas that those firefighters can't get to but that the cause of that fire is
00:50still yet to be determined.
00:51At this time there is no indication that the cause of this fire is suspicious.
00:56There is a number of elements that our investigators are working through in partnership with WorkSafe.
01:02It's too early to give any indication as to what has caused this fire.
01:05There's a number of leads that we're following up, a lot of people that we're interviewing.
01:10Once we can get access to the site we'll have a clearer picture particularly of the area
01:14of origin and we're working through that.
01:16The EPA is also monitoring nearby waterways.
01:21They're focusing on a number that are close.
01:24There's Cherry Creek and Latherton Creek and there's also sandbagging taking place at some
01:30other areas as well to stop the impacts of those chemicals washing into the water and
01:35obviously to monitor if there is any potential impacts that turn up in that water.
01:42The advice is not to come into contact with any of those creeks or waterways, especially
01:47pets.
01:48Don't allow your pets to go near there.
01:50There's a lot of atmospheric monitoring going on as well, obviously from those chemicals
01:54that were burning, but the advice very much is that this monitoring will take place for
01:59a number of weeks to come, potentially some months as well before we see the full impact
02:04of what this fire has caused.