Ten days on, firefighters say Lismore tip fire almost out

AFTER belching toxic smoke and then smouldering for 10 days, firefighters have revealed the time they predict the Lismore tip fire will be out.

EXTINGUISHED: Firefighters hope to announce the fire at the Lismore Recycling and Recovery Centre, which started on Sunday August 11, will be officially extinguished. Picture: F&R NSW

TEN days after responding to a fire which engulfed the Lismore Recycling & Recovery Centre, firefighters believe they will have the fire extinguished today.

Hundreds of crew hours working in stinking, dirty and often toxic conditions will be finalised and the site formally handed over to Lismore City Council for the next stage of the facility's restitution.

On Wednesday morning, Lismore Fire & Rescue Station Officer Fraser Hindry said they hoped to have massive compost heaps at the site on Wyrallah Rd, East Lismore, finally extinguished today.

"We are optimistic the fire should be completely extinguished by noon today,” he said.

"There might be a little residual steam in the area from the water on the fire does to turn to steam as many hundreds of thousands of litres of water have been sprayed across the smouldering heaps of organic waste.”

Mr Hindry said on Wednesday as crew of six firefighters, two fire appliances will be at the site under the direction of F&R Duty Commander Region North, Duty Officer Les Gorey.

"We will also be sorting out the decontamination of our gear to get it ready to back into service,” he said.

"Items such as the water canons and monitors and any other hard gear used will be cleaned up, although a lot of the hoses will be put out of service.”

Mr Hindry said although F&R NSW officially hand the site over to council, he expected there was still a lot of work to do.

"We will give them our official report and hand over documentation and provide ongoing consultation to council down the track,” he said.

"We will also report on how the whole incident was handled, lessons learned and hopefully recommend preventative measures for the future.”