Up to 60 people working on sub-levels when fire started in basement of Barangaroo site with likely cause ‘a smouldering piece of steel’
FIREFIGHTERS have finally extinguished the blaze at Barangaroo as it emerges 40 to 60 people were working on the sub-levels when the fire erupted.
NSW
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FORTY to 60 people were working on the sub-levels of the Barangaroo site when a ‘smouldering piece of steel fell to the basement’ sparking yesterday’s fire.
A CFMEU official said it was believed the fire started when steel was being cut with a oxy-acetylene torch and a smouldering part of the steel fell into the basement.
In addition to the 40 to 60 workers in the sub-levels when the fire broke out, including a handful of welders, it has been revealed that a 38-year-old worker suffered cuts and bruises in December after falling at least a floor when a crane hooked on to part of the scaffolding.
The fire started in the basement of a building under construction before ravaging the base of a 50m-tall crane. Workers ran for their lives amid fears it would topple over.
Thousands of officer workers were evacuated and smoke engulfed the city causing peak-hour traffic chaos.
Building unions are now predicting the fire in the basement area of the Tower 3 construction site at Barangaroo South, which was officially declared out at 11.45am, will delay the project by at least a month.
The CFMEU said there had been numerous incidents at the site recently, with at least four reported in one month over Christmas.
Yesterday’s incident has prompted a call by the union movement for an urgent safety review of all major building sites in the city.
The NSW Opposition went further, saying the NSW Government must order an independent report into government agencies’ preparedness to respond to major incidents that cause traffic gridlock in the CBD and the inner-city.
Unions NSW secretary, Mark Lennon, said the fire is the third major safety scare on a city building site in the past 18 months.
Three workers were injured just a fortnight ago when scaffolding at a building site at Mascot collapsed on to O’Riordan Street.
“Big projects such as Barangaroo and the new Convention Centre have created a spike in the amount of construction work being done. Clearly, not enough safety inspections are happening,” Mr Lennon said.
“This morning I will be writing to the Finance Minister, Andrew Constance, requesting an urgent safety audit of major construction sites across Sydney.
“Community safety is at risk.”
As it happened: The Barangaroo fire which crippled Sydney
Fire a second blight on Barangaroo building site
CFMEU State secretary Brian Parker said while the union would work with Lend Lease and WorkCover to get the site up and running as soon as possible, safety was always an issue because there were “unrealistic time frames” set by the company.
Mr Parker said Premier Barry O’Farrell should convene an urgent “roundtable” meeting to discuss the number of safety incidents on the site in recent months.
“All the building unions, including the plumbers, electricians and metal workers, have concerns about a move towards safety self-regulation in the construction industry.
“WorkCover has to oversee these issues. We need WorkCover to be the tough cop on the beat.”
Opposition Roads spokesman Walt Secord and Transport spokeswoman Penny Sharpe said an independent investigation must report on the way government agencies such as Roads and Maritime Services, Transport for NSW and the Traffic Management Centre handled the crisis.
The Western Distributor was closed from 2pm until early this morning after concerns the crane could topple onto the roadway, causing massive traffic snarls and delays to bus services, stranding thousands of commuters for hours.
Parts of Sussex St and Hickson Rd near the epicentre of the blaze remain closed.
“This is not the time for fingerpointing,” Ms Sharpe said.
“It should be time to find out what worked; what did not and how to avoid the city slipping into gridlock every time there is an incident or major emergency in or near the CBD.
All but a handful of plumbers and electricians were sent home today and told to return tomorrow for a 7am meeting at the site.
They were told today that there was no power or water connected to the site and the large crane would be dismantled.
Mr Parker said he expected the fire will delay work at the site by at least a month.
He said Lend Lease has committed to re-locating workers to other sites and that construction sub-contractors will be urged to find other work for their employees.
A firefighter was hospitalised with heat stress overnight and released this morning with Inspector Ian Krimmer saying reports he had a heart attack were incorrect. he is still recovering.
WELDING SPARK MAY HAVE CAUSED FIRE
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