Eastern Freeway traffic delay: Ringwood’s EastLink Melba Tunnel car fire

EastLink’s tunnel chaos after food van suddenly caught on fire and caused huge traffic delays.

Traffic is back to normal on EastLink following a fire in the Mullum Mullum tunnel. File picture.

An electrical fault is believed to have caused a food van to catch fire in an EastLink tunnel, which lead to a lunchtime shutdown, evacuations and huge traffic delays.

The toll road has reopened in both directions near the Ringwood Bypass and the Eastern Freeway following the incident at noon on Wednesday.

EastLink spokesman Doug Spencer-Roy said a small truck was travelling in the Mullum Mullum tunnel towards Ringwood when it suddenly stopped halfway and caught on fire.

The fire set off a nearby sprinkler system and Fire Rescue Victoria firefighters also rushed to assist at the scene.

Mr Spencer-Roy said both tunnels were closed to allow drivers to evacuate through the Melba Tunnel.

Fire Rescue Victoria spokesman Nick Wade said five trucks rushed to the scene but only two were required, with the fire extinguished within 10 minutes.

No one was injured and engineers found no damage to the tunnels following the fire.

Mr Spencer-Roy said the food van was towed away and drivers returned to their cars shortly after the evacuation.

He said congestion at each end of the tunnels had cleared and conditions on the toll road had returned to normal by 1.20pm.