Update Friday 8 September:
Assistant Chief Officer Rohan Luke said I'd like to acknowledge the work by both staff and volunteer crews in responding to the fire at the petro-chemical distribution facility in Drysdale on the Bellarine Peninsula on Wednesday night.
“Some of the footage of the fire was quite spectacular and would have been a very difficult fire to both manage and fight,” he said.
“There were complexities associated with exposures, evacuations, consultation with partner Emergency Service Organisations and government agencies, not to mention the significant focus on crew and public safety and of course extinguishment, meaning this fire was one of the most complex a fire commander and fighter could attend.
“I'm extremely impressed by the approach taken to swiftly escalate the incident to ensure crews were in place to not only deal with the incident but to ensure support was in place at every level.
“To that end, I'd like to acknowledge and congratulate Operations Officer Wayne Aylmer, supported by Drysdale Captain Brendan McDonald and Operations Officer Pat Geary. To the firefighters, both staff and volunteer and the support crews at this complex and challenging fire, I say well done and thank you for a job well done.
“I'm comforted by the fact that our crews' efforts on Wednesday night were no accident and the team work displayed is a great example of the strength in District 7.
“Well done to all for responding as one.”
Update 11.30:
Residents are now safe to return to their homes.
CFA and MFB crews are still in attendance.
Update 9.45:
Early this morning (7 September) residents in the Drysdale area were woken up to explosive noises as a shed at the rear of a petrol station went up in flames.
Firefighters were called to the scene on High Street shortly after 12.30am.
CFA and MFB firefighters were able to bring the fire under control around 5am.
CFA Operations Manager Wayne Aylmer said the shed was well alight on arrival.
“The shed was approximately 20 x 50m and used to store LPG cylinders,” Mr Aylmer said.
“Eight trucks including seven fuel tankers were destroyed as well hundreds of LPG cylinders.
“There have been some significant losses on site but thankfully no one has been injured.
“35 properties were evacuated and 50 residents were re-located to a local evacuation centre.
“It is still an exclusion zone. MFB will be using their drone to check for cylinders around the area and SES will conducting an impact assessment and checking homes.
Crews will be on the scene for an extended period of time today.
“The cause of the fire is unknown at this stage but we will be conducting an investigation sometime today.”
SES, Police, Ambulance, Work Safe, Environmental Protection Authority, City of Greater Geelong Building Surveyor and Municipal Emergency Response Officer are also in attendance.
11 CFA vehicles from Drysdale, Geelong, Corio, Ocean Gove, Mannerim, Wallington and one MFB truck were in attendance.
Author: CFA Media