Otways- Regional News - October 2006

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Fiery blaze at log yard , Lauren Pike, Geelong Advertiser Otways - Oct 06

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Fiery blaze at log yard

Friday, October 13
Lauren Pike

A FIRE at a North Geelong log yard caused hundreds of thousands of
dollars worth of damage and threatened neighbouring industrial plants.

The fire which started at 2.30pm ignited hundreds of logs stored at
the Midway plant in Langdon St near Corio Quay.

Two aerial tankers, five appliances and about 45 firefighters tackled
the blaze, which raged among the solid pine logs.

The blaze was one of 22 fires that erupted across the region,
including one that threatened three Grovedale homes.

The heat of the North Geelong fire was so severe five firefighters
collapsed from heat exhaustion and were transported to Geelong Hospital.

Geelong CFA fire chief Bob Barry said the blaze started in a log pile
before quickly spreading to another four stacks which were 60m by 70m
in length and 4m high.

``There are hundreds upon hundreds of logs and the fire is still
burning freely in the middle. To put it out will take some time. How
long? How long is a piece of string,'' Mr Barry said last night.

A Shell Refinery base pumper, which pumps 10,000 litres of water per
minute, was used to transport water from Corio Bay to the fire scene 400m away.

Mr Barry described the fire as a ``big operation'' with fire crews
expected to battle the blaze overnight and today.

He said strong winds had sent embers flying to nearby properties with
a fire starting at the entrance of a malting plant.

Neville Tanis, who works at the neighbouring Graincorp building, was
one of the first on the scene after a colleague noticed the fire.

``It started off just smouldering and then it went up like all
buggery. She just took off,'' he said.

``The fire was next to a shed of fertiliser and we had a shed full of
expensive equipment - that was our major concern. It could have been
catastrophic.''

Mr Barry said yesterday's total fire ban was the earliest on record
and was in response to this year's extreme weather conditions and
heightened fire danger.

The CFA and Department of Sustainability and Environment yesterday
announced the fire restriction period would start on October 30 six
weeks earlier than usual.

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