25 fire crews fighting Cheltenham factory blaze involving lithium-ion batteries
It took 70 firefighters six hours to bring a massive lithium-ion battery blaze under control at a Cheltenham factory.
South East
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Schoolchildren were kept indoors, businesses evacuated and roads closed as 70 firefighters battled for six hours to bring a massive blaze under control at a Cheltenham factory.
The fire was reported by a caller to Triple 0 who said lithium-ion batteries had caught alight at the Chesterville Road site about 8.30am on Thursday.
Crews arrived within five minutes to find two adjoining factories of the same business well alight.
A nearby resident described seeing the thick smoke near her home as “pretty scary”.
“To us it seemed really close, for a minute I thought we might be in danger,” she said.
Neighbouring business owner Ilana Rothschild was told the scene was “quite poisonous” and he wouldn’t be allowed back to work in her textile factory.
“We arrived and saw the trucks thinking maybe there was some car accident,” Ms Rothschild said.
“There are so many businesses there’s cooking, cake making and photographers but we never know what anyone has in their factory space.”
Children at Tucker Road Primary School, in nearby Bentleigh, were being kept inside due to concerns over air quality.
An email to parents seen by the Herald Sun confirmed the school would be holding Thursday’s morning recess indoors.
“Due to the fire being a lithium battery factory we will be having an indoor recess,” the email said.
“We will monitor the air quality and reassess the situation at lunchtime.
“We are hopeful by this stage the fire will have settled, but if not we may need to keep students indoors at lunch too.”
Staff were also advised to keep all windows and doors closed to prevent the putrid smoke smell from the fire filling classrooms.
A community advice message was issued for Cheltenham, Highett, Moorabbin and Moorabbin East.
The alert said smoke would be visible from nearby roads but there was no threat to nearby communities.
“There is currently not threat to the community but people should continue to stay informed and monitor conditions,” an FRV spokesman said.
A column of smoke was also visible from Melbourne’s CBD.
A worker took to social media to post a photo of the smoke from their Exhibition St office.
Motorists are being warned to avoid the area.
FRV Incident Controller Assistant Chief Fire Officer Barry Gray said a “fantastic effort” was made by firefighters to limit the fire to the buildings of origin.
He said it took FRV and CFA crews about two and a half hours to contain the fire and it was not deemed under control until 2.32pm.
“There were some initial limitations with access to the buildings where the fire was located, due to an inaccessible laneway and concerns of a partial structural collapse,” he said.
FRV’s Remotely Piloted Aircraft Systems (drones) team, assisted by Victoria Police, was used to collect aerial footage to assess the incident.
According to FRV, the factories contained various items including solar panels and lithium-ion batteries.
The business was evacuated along with neighbouring premises
Surrounding businesses were expected to remain closed for the rest of the day due to smoke.
Chesterville Road was also likely to remain closed until 5pm.