Fairfield City Council garbage trucks destroyed in depot fire

A western Sydney council will foot a damage bill of millions after a devastating explosion saw half of their garbage trucks destroyed.

A large explosion and fire has destroyed half of a multimillion-dollar fleet of garbage trucks at a southwest Sydney council depot on Tuesday night.

About 8:57pm a loud explosion was reported at Fairfield City Council‘s rubbish truck depot on Sackville St, Canley Vale.

Fire crews and police raced to the scene to find a large fire had broken out inside the depot and up to five garbage trucks had been damaged by the flames.

Fairfield city garbage trucks destroyed by a fierce fire at the council depot. Credit: Frank Carbone

No one was injured during the incident.

Five fire crews including an aerial hose battled the blaze for over an hour in an effort to keep the inferno away from the remaining vehicles inside the depot, with large plumes of smoke seen billowing from the facility.

There were reports of multiple explosions and the threat of nearby LPG cylinders stored at the depot becoming damaged before the fire was extinguished just after 10pm.

Fairfield city garbage trucks destroyed by a fierce fire at the council depot. Credit: Frank Carbone

Fairfield city garbage trucks destroyed by a fierce fire at the council depot. Credit: Frank Carbone

It is so far unclear what caused the fire, with police and fire investigators set to revisit the scene on Wednesday.

While five of the council’s trucks were destroyed by fire, another five of the vehicles have had their undercarriage wiring damaged, rendering them useless.

Fairfield City Mayor Frank Carbone said the destruction of half the council’s entire truck fleet would cost “millions” to replace, leaving him with a hefty bill.

“Unfortunately we’ve lost five trucks, they’re worth half a million dollars each … another three to five have burnt wiring, so 10 trucks (damaged) is going to be a big issue” Mr Carbone said.

“We were lucky, no one was injured, staff are fine … but it’s a 35 week waiting period to replace just one truck, so this will be a big issue for the next few months.”

Mr Carbone said Fairfield City council would do its best to cope to maintain garbage services for over 210,000 residents.

“We’ll work around the clock to pick up (garbage) tomorrow, the next months wont be easy but we’ll find a way to make it work, whether it’s calling in contractors we’ll find a solution while our trucks are out of use.”