Early Sunday morning, at 03h08 our Public Emergency Communication Centre received a distress call- “there was a fire at a factory in Blackheath.”
A fire engine was despatched, along with a full crew and arrived at the premises 03h24. They discovered how serious this was. It was a bulk paper handling storage facility, with compressed bales of stacked paper, now with the fire well developed!
The team immediately got to work but knew this required much more resources and specialized equipment, if they were to conquer the flames.
An additional two fire engines and crew were despatched, along with 2 large-scale water tankers, to keep on supplying water to the firefighters on the front line.
Firefighters had to use their breathing apparatus to battle the dense smoke, and while a internal wall collapsed from the heat, the fire was prevented from spreading to the neighbouring factory (that was storing cooking oil).
The bales burn with intensified heat and firefighters could not access the burning mass in the centre of the storage facility. An aerial appliance was summoned to the scene and firefighters were able to extend their reach from high up and overhead, thereby dousing the flames down below.
A bulldozer was brought to the location and used to begin clearing the bales, allowing firefighters to work their way through the burning mass.
A number of LP gas cylinders were cooled, then removed from the area under threat, averting a much worse disaster. Firefighters had to work throughout Sunday and Monday, with crews still present on Tuesday due to the severity and risk involved.
A total of 13x Fire Engines were used over the period, with 4x Water Tankers and 2x Rescue Vehicles, along with an “Bronto” Aerial Platform.
A structural engineer was requested to the premises due to a wall collapsing, but because of the rapid and extensive response, surrounding factories were spared.
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– Arrive Alive (@_ArriveAlive) August 12, 2025
