Thomas Foods International’s giant abattoir near Murray Bridge hit by devastating fire
A MAJOR meat processor in Australia — with exports to over 80 countries — has been gutted by a fire causing millions of dollars of damage.
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A HUGE fire that ripped through Murray Bridge’s local abattoir — South Australia’s biggest and the town’s largest employer — was started accidentally by a worker who was welding, authorities have confirmed.
The fire at the Thomas Foods abattoir, one of the three largest meat processors in Australia and a major exporter and distributor of meat products broke out at 7pm on Wednesday night, causing tens of millions of dollars worth of damage.
It’s expected the fire will continue burning into Friday.
MFS spokesman Phil Kilsby said fire cause investigators determined the blaze was started accidentally by a worker who was welding an offal bin.
“Unfortunately it’s gone into a highly combustible wall and spread through the premises quite rapidly,” Mr Kilsby said adding that the threat to factory workers was “extremely serious”.
Emergency services were called to Thomas Foods International’s meatworks, on the northern outskirts of Murray Bridge, after reports of a “significant” fire at the plant at 7pm on Wednesday night.
The company faces a multimillion-dollar damage bill and major rebuilding operation, but
a large portion of the plant has been saved.
Despite that, a significant part will need to be torn down to allow crews access to extinguish the fire, firefighters say.
LATEST UPDATES:
■ About 20 firefighters are still battling a large factory fire near the intersection of Lagoon Road and Mannum Road at Murray Bridge.
■ Salvage crews are helping the remaining crews gain access to the basement where it continues to burn and an excavator will be used to extinguish it.
■ It is estimated the fire caused at “tens of millions of dollars” in damage but firefighters say more than half the facility was saved.
■ The fire is thought to be contained largely to the boning rooms with the main slaughter floor still intact.
■ The fire damaged $30 million in upgrades finished in 2015, and parts of the building will need to be demolished to allow firefighters to extinguish the fire.
■ There have been no reported injuries — one firefighter was taken to hospital as a precaution.
■ Residents in the vicinity of the fire were advised to close all doors and windows and stay indoors until the smoke has passed.
■ There are road closures in place including Lagoon Road and Nilpena Road, police are on scene directing traffic but are asking members of the public to please keep clear of the area.
Emergency Services Minister Chris Picton says efforts to completely extinguish the fire are likely to continue into Thursday night and only then will the full extent of the damage and the cost be known.
“There’s still a fire in the basement of one of the buildings and an excavator is going to be brought in,” he said.
“There are structural risks to various parts of the building and laser technology is being used to monitor movement.”
Metropolitan Fire Service incident commander Robert Crockford said the fire still burning was deep seated and there was still significant smoke.
He said parts of the building would be pulled down to allow crews better access after one of the biggest structural fires in SA for some time.
“The building is totally destroyed. It will be a complete demolition,” he said. “It was quite an intense fire.”
Commander Crockford said the cause was yet to be determined but investigators were already on the scene.
The Government’s response
Thomas Foods is one of SA’s biggest employers and one of the nation’s biggest food producers.
Local MP Adrian Pederick said the fire would be a major blow to the district.
“Fourteen hundred people work here and that is far more than was lost with the Holden closure recently,” he said.
“And for every job here, it would impact on five or six jobs out in the community.”
This morning at the scene, Agriculture and Food Minister Leon Bignell said the State Government was working with the company to help it get “back on track” as quickly as possible.
“We are still dealing with an emergency services response here until the fire is out,” Mr Bignell said.
“We’ve been working overnight and this morning with Thomas Foods — it’s devastating for that company and also for the large workforce here in Murray Bridge, 1400 people work on-site here.
“We’re working with the company to see what can be put in place — we know they have another processing plant in Tamworth, some of the work can go there.
“There’s also a chance of taking about 20 per cent of the work to the Lobethal site where Thomas Foods also has a processing plant.
“But we’ll be working as a whole-of-government approach with the company with places like Centrelink to make sure we can stand side-by-side with Thomas Foods and their workforce to get them back on track as quickly as possible, to make sure we reduce the impact on the workers in Murray Bridge.”
The fire
Witnesses told The Advertiser how a “wall of flames” engulfed the facility, 76km east of Adelaide.
More than 100 Metropolitan and Country Fire Service crews responded to the intense blaze — from as far away as Woodville, in the western suburbs — sparking the highest alarm response.
MFS spokesman Roy Thompson said crews did a great job in difficult conditions to bring the blaze under control.
“You imagine a massive factory about 100 metres by 80 metres, about four storeys high, an absolute rabbit warren of conveyor belts where all the meat is processed, the crews were fantastic,” Mr Thompson told ABC radio.
They pumped water from a nearby lagoon in their efforts to bring the blaze under control.
Residents were warned to stay away from the Northern Heights facility and remain indoors as the fire tore through the 8000 sqm structure amid fears the building could collapse or explode.
Workers told how the fire may have started in a lamb boning room from malfunctioning machinery or a welder.
Shocked staff gathered outside as they watched their workplace burn.
A statement from the company’s CEO Darren Thomas late on Wednesday night said:
“Emergency crews are attending a fire which broke out at Thomas Foods International’s Murray Bridge meat processing facilities early this evening.
“Thankfully all our employees on site were safely and promptly evacuated.
“The exact cause of the fire and the full extent of the structural damage is yet to be determined.
“While this is being assessed, the company is making alternative processing arrangements to meet our customer requirements.’’
Thomas Foods is Australia’s largest family-owned food processing company and one of the state’s most successful businesses with annual revenue of more than $1b.
Processing lamb, beef, mutton and goat, its major clients include Woolworths, Coles, Aldi, McDonalds, IGA and Drake Supermarkets.
Company officials were unable to say on Wednesday night what impact the fire would have on the country’s meat supplies.
Founded in 1988, it employs more than 3000 people in its processing and distribution facilities in Australia and overseas — and is Murray Bridge’s biggest employer, where it employs 1400 people.
The company, which is an Adelaide Football Club major sponsor, exports to more than 80 countries across North America, Europe and the Middle East.
A worker, who did not want to be named, was on the slaughter floor when staff were ordered to get out.
“This is a really big factory for Murray Bridge and it will be a huge shame if we lose it,” he said.
More than 20 fire trucks were called to the facility at 6.58pm as witnesses told how the fire rapidly took hold and spread over three levels of the building.
Despite police warnings, large crowds gathered to watch the fire, which could be seen from more than 50km away. It caused access problems to the facility.
Mannum Rd resident Bea Kynaston, 19, who lives less than 1km from the plant, witnessed walls start to collapse shortly before 8pm.
“You could see the sides of the wall caving in. We heard a big bang and flames started rushing out through the gap,” she said.
“You could see inside the plant and flames were everywhere. We started hearing (more) big bangs and thought we’d better get out of there.
‘We’re all on standby at the minute in case we have to evacuate if it explodes.”
She added: “I’m just glad all the flames are going to the back of (the plant) toward the wetlands, so it’s not getting near houses. It’s blowing away from houses.”
She described scenes of chaos as the huge crowd hindered emergency services.
“There’s a lot of people standing around in their work uniforms,” she said. “It’s really sad because there’s going to be a lot of people out of work,” she said.
Murray Bridge Mayor Brenton Lewis said the affect on the area was unknown.
“It’s our biggest employer so whatever happens at Thomas Foods will impact on Murray Bridge, so we just have to wait and see,” he said.
- WHO IS THOMAS FOODS INTERNATIONAL?
- ■Australia’s third largest meat processing business
- ■Biggest family owned meat processing concern
- ■Exports to over 80 countries in N. America, Europe and Middle East
- ■Australian clients include Woolworths, Coles, Aldi and IGA
- ■Founded in 1988; run by CEO Darren Thomas and father Chris
- ■Has 3000 employees
- ■1400 staff at Murray Bridge, making it the town’s biggest employer
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