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Smoke from tip fire could ‘impact’ residents

ABC

ABC

A blaze at an abandoned rubbish tip in Somerton, on the outskirts of Melbourne, has sent smoke billowing towards homes and businesses in the area which could “impact” on residents, the Country Fire Authority (CFA) says.

The pile of rubbish and building supplies was estimated to be about 100 metres wide, and heaped up 10 metres high.

The blaze started at about 2.30am on Friday and some reports indicated a lightning strike may have caused it to ignite.

Latest reports said the fire was still not contained and authorities were still fighting the blaze.

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The fire was upgraded to a watch and act alert about 9am by the CFA, who said smoke was expected to impact homes and businesses between Craigieburn Road, Hume Highway, Bridgewater Road/Donald Cameron Drive and Somerton Road.

The CFA said the area had been a waste dumping site for years and they are not exactly sure what is in it.

CFA operations officer John Anderson said authorities were monitoring the air quality in the area and are doing modelling to try to predict where the smoke cloud will go.

Wooden pallets near the pile of burning rubbish and building supplies.

Wooden pallets near the pile of burning rubbish and building supplies. Photo: ABC

“At the moment the [smoke] cloud is fairly high which means that it won’t directly impact but hopefully as the day progresses, hopefully that cloud will remain high,” he told 774 ABC Melbourne.

“If it gets lower it could have a significant impact.

“I’ve just spoken to the incident management team and suggested perhaps we put out some mobile atmospheric monitoring into various areas.”

A CFA spokeswoman could not confirm the cause of the fire, as it was under investigation.

She told The New Daily fire crews were expected to remain at the site “for the rest of the day”.

It is quite large and when you have piles of rubbish burning, it can take a while to put out,” she said.

On Friday morning, 37 crews of more than 100 firefighters were at the scene.

Closure of the Hume Highway was also extended from a stretch between Pattullos Lane and Somerton Road, to Somerton Road and Craigieburn Road.

The CFA and EPA undertook atmospheric monitoring at the site on Friday.

with ABC

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