MOUNT Gambier and district firefighters contained a large silo blaze that erupted at a timber manufacturing plant on Sunday, sending plumes of smoke billowing across residential streets.
Residents living in immediate and surrounding areas were warned to keep their doors and windows closed due to the blanket of smoke.
It is understood the fire was contained in two woodchip storage silos, an air grader and two bag houses at the Borg Manufacturing site.
The fire was sparked by a dust explosion within one of the silos.
More than 30 firefighters – wearing breathing apparatus – battled the vertical blaze for some hours, which ignited around noon on Sunday.
Both silos housed tonnes of pine chips and it was the second silo blaze at a Mount Gambier timber manufacturing site in 18 months.
Crews were still at the scene late yesterday morning mopping up the site.
Metropolitan Fire Service regional commander Mark Searcy – who was at the scene overnight Sunday – described the incident as challenging for firefighters given the height of the silos and smoke generated.
“When the crews arrived, they discovered there had been an explosion in both of the silos and there were smoke and flames coming from the top of the silos,” Mr Searcy said at the scene yesterday.
“The top section of the silos are called the bag house. There are hessian bags in there that help to control the dust – they were all on fire.”
Mr Searcy said it was fortunate the explosion already occurred before appliances arrived given the potential risk to firefighters.
“For us to come here and it has already exploded is good – we don’t want to opening up hatches and doors and it then explodes,” he said.
An upgraded alarm also alerted three Country Fire Service appliances to respond to the incident to support city-based firefighters.
“We had a total of seven appliances fighting the fires,” Mr Searcy explained.
He said fortunately the MFS crews were able to use the aerial pumping appliance so firefighters could tackle the fire at height.
“Once we were able to control the top of the fire, then it was a matter of opening up the hatches at the bottom and starting to take the product through the bottom,” the MFS regional chief explained.But he said there were pockets of fire within the woodchips, which triggered flare-ups.
“This is a very slow and tedious task. Both silos were half full and people tell me they were 100 tonne hoppers – there was a lot of product to get out,” Mr Searcy said.
“Crews worked all night and were just finishing off the last of two silos yesterday morning.”
He said the company would now replace the “explosion plates” at the top of the silos and repair other damage to the structures.
While damage is estimated at $10,000, the extent of lost production is not known.
Mr Searcy said site management was already working yesterday towards getting that section of the mill “back up and running”.
He said management indicated the burnt woodchips could be dried and used in some of the site’s burners.
Borg Manufacturing officially took over the site from Carter Holt Harvey earlier this year.
The Border Watch contacted Borg Manufacturing for comment.
