Weston Aluminium plant fire may burn for days: Officials

Residents in Kurri Kurri, Hunter, are being advised to keep their windows and doors shut as firefighters work to put out a big industrial fire. The fire at the Weston Aluminium site began on Sunday morning and continued throughout the day and into the night, sending huge plumes of black smoke over the town. The fire consumed large amounts of bottled hand sanitizer, paint, rubber, plastics, and aluminium dross.

The smoke had dissipated to a cloud around the location by Monday morning. According to NSW Fire and Rescue Deputy Commissioner, Jeremy Fewtrell, air monitoring at schools and downwind of the site is underway.

"We've had our … hazardous materials technicians working throughout the night and this morning, monitoring the smoke plume and the impacts on town, so the readings aren't raising a concern. In an abundance of caution though, we've put out the advice for people to keep their windows and doors closed, so that if they were to be impacted by the smoke, it wouldn't be going into their residence,” said Jeremy Fewtrell.

About 300 firefighters from Sydney, Newcastle, and the Central Coast have been battling the flames in alternate shifts. Mr Fewtrell described the situation as "very challenging," adding that the fire might take many days to completely extinguish.

The structure's fallen roof, he claimed, made entry impossible for firemen. He said that the site also included hundreds of tonnes of aluminium dross, a waste product from the aluminium production process that may turn volatile and explode if moist.

"We're aware of the potential dangers of the product and so we'll mange that really carefully. It can be reactive with water and that influenced our tactical decisions about how we fought the fire and we made sure there was no application of water for firefighting in the vicinity where the dross was stored,” added Mr. Fewtrell.

The Weston Aluminium factory handles aluminium dross, however it has recently expanded its trash burning operations to accommodate substantial amounts of medical waste. The facility was storing massive supplies of hand sanitizer and paint for incineration. On Monday, more than 100 people turned up for a community meeting hosted by NSW Fire and Rescue, when numerous homeowners expressed their worries over the plant's closeness to town.

"The dross really bothers me because it is extremely volatile and if all those roofs have collapsed, it can be horrendous if it gets wet," said Rhonda Boyles.

When one of the attendees declared that the plant should never have been built in Kurri Kurri, the audience erupted in applause.

"For years we've put up with bad smells from this plant, but you've just got to live with it because it's just there. I was on council when it was first proposed in 1995, I was against it then and most of the town was against it, and it was taken out of the hands of the council and approved by the state government. " said Des Mills, who lives a short distance from the plant.

Garbis Simonian, the plant's owner, dismissed the allegations, calling them "misplaced."

"Dross itself, even if it gets wet, is not explosive, it gives off a bad smell of methane, but it really doesn't [blow up], so there is no problem, " said Garbis Simonian.

Mr Simonian said that the factory has been functioning securely on the site for 25 years in accordance with the Environment Protection Authority and that it was not responsible for any foul odours in the town.

“We have an extensive range of what we call bag houses, which are like vacuum cleaners that clean the smoke. We also douse it with lime for acids, and activated carbon for dioxins and we also have continuous monitoring,” added Mr Simonian.

Mr Simonian stated that the fire had damaged big storage rooms but not the site's furnaces, which he intended to have up and running again in a couple of days. When the fire broke out, the factory was shut down, and Mr Simonian felt it was started on purpose. It will take many days for fire investigators and police to get access to the scene and undertake a thorough investigation, according to Fire and Rescue NSW.