Council announce changes to service following inferno at Cairns waste station
Cairns Regional Council has confirmed changes to sercives at the Portsmith Transfer Station as a result of a major fire on Thursday night.
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Cairns Regional Council has confirmed changes to sercives at the Portsmith Transfer Station as a result of a major fire at the Bedminster Advanced Resource Recovery Facility on Thursday night.
A multimillion-dollar fire, which could have been started by a battery dumped in a wheelie bin, has sent foul-smelling toxic fumes over Cairns.
More than 35 firefighters from 11 crews battled the inferno overnight Thursday which continued to smoulder Friday morning.
The fire engulfed the main building of the Portsmith Transfer Station with firefighters called to the facility just before 8pm on Thursday, January 23.
A council spokesman advised residents the Portsmith Transfer Station and the buy Back Shop would remain closed until at least Wednesday, January 29.
“This is to prioritise safety, allow management of the fire within the waste stockpile to ensure it does not reignite, and continue to process our kerbside waste collection,” the spokesman said.
“Smithfield and Gordonvale Transfer Stations will operate per regular hours; seven days a week from 8.30am to 5.15pm.”
Council confirmed there would be no impact to kerbside waste collection and council would deploy additional staff to those Smithfield and Gordonvale stations to assist with potential extra demand.
“We appreciate the community’s patience and apologise for any inconvenience,” the spokesman said.
Chief superintendent Adam Gwin said crews had worked to bring the blaze under control.
“We are dealing with the structure that’s 150m by 50m and we also have an excavator and a dump truck that are part of this issue,” he said at the time.
The roof of the building collapsed just before 9.30pm.
“We are very closely monitoring the wind and wind direction and that will keep us informed about smoke plumes, we do have our scientific officers en route and through that we will carry out some environmental testing to make sure we are doing the best we can,” Chief Gwin said.
Chief superintendent Gwin said everyone had been accounted for in the building and there were no injuries.
“We know these things are something the public has a high interest in, but it’s really important they give us the space that we need,” he said.
“We have had a couple of issues with drone operators, putting them up over the top of the job, which doesn’t help us.”
A spokesman for Queensland Fire and Rescue said fire crews remained on scene on Friday morning, continuing to extinguish the blaze.
“There are two pumpers still on site, council, SES, police and paramedics, it’s been a huge night for us,” he said.
Heavy machinery was used to move the piles of rubbish on fire out in sections.
“By separating the piles on fire, we can then put them out easier and more effectively,” the spokesman said.
The fire appears to have started in the Bedminster resource building with the arched roof used to sort household rubbish separating organic materials for composting before the remainder is taken to landfill on the Tablelands.
Flames could be seen shooting from the top of the structure, with videos revealing the blaze burning out of control on Thursday night.
A Queensland Fire Department spokeswoman said an employee of the depot had originally alerted them to the fire.
Queensland Police Service and Queensland Ambulance Service were also at the scene with
at least one firefighter treated by paramedics.
Cairns Regional Council said the cause of the blaze could potentially have been a battery incorrectly disposed of in a kerbside wheelie bin.
“The Portsmith Transfer Station will be closed tomorrow (Friday) and once safe to do so, pending approval by Queensland Fire Department, council will begin cleaning up the site,” the statement read.
“The Buy Back Shop will also be closed tomorrow, there will be no disruption to kerbside collection.
“The cause of the fire is yet to be determined, although ignition from an incorrectly disposed battery has not been ruled out. Authorities will conduct an investigation when safe to do so.
“There has been significant damage to the Bedminster facility, which will severely impact council’s ability to divert organics material from landfill. Residents are asked to avoid the area for their safety and to ensure accessibility for emergency services.”
Mayor Amy Eden said firefighters and the management at the facility did a great job containing the “significant event”.
“Staff on-site at the time have raised the alarm and everyone was safe,” she said.
“We had our on-call plumbers on site making sure we had enough water supply. The fire has been contained and it is still smouldering and smoking. We have had excavators inside Friday morning moving the rubble to get to the heat.”
Ms Eden said kerbside collection would continue as usual.
Director Cairns Infrastructure and Assets, Mark Wuth, said the facility was around 20 years old and the ignition of a lithium ion battery was the most likely cause of the blaze.
“We have certainly had problems with lithium batteries in the recent years, which is the most likely cause, although investigations are ongoing.” he said.
“We have had up to about 13 fires in the back of rubbish trucks and a similar number of fires in facilities at our stations with these batteries.
“Once they get damages and move around they can create quite a lot of heat.
“They are in all sorts of things including vapes these days.”
Mr Wuth urged residents to be careful when disposing batteries and use dedicated disposal areas at transfer stations and other businesses.
Mr Wuth said in the short term more material would likely be going through to landfill.
“The site takes in around 9000 kerbside bins with 250 tonnes of waste from those bins,” he said.
“It wasn’t at maximum capacity overnight which was fortunate so it could have been worse with more material left to burn.”
Director of Tropical Public Health Services, Dr Jacqueline Murdoch, urged those in smoke affected areas to stay away from the area for the day or remain indoors with their homes closed.
“Smoke can affect air quality, we recommend people who are sensitive like people over 65, infants and young children, pregnant women and especially those with health conditions like asthma to remain indoors or move away from the smoke affected area if possible,” she said.
“We are still liaising with other organisations with air quality measurements but any smoke from fires will increase the matter in the air and affect those people who are at higher risk.”
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Originally published as Council announce changes to service following inferno at Cairns waste station
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