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The 2018 West Footscray warehouse fire was a major industrial fire that occurred in the border of West Footscray and Tottenham, an inner-western suburb of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, beginning on 30 August 2018. The fire took the Metropolitan Fire Brigade several days to fully control and emitted a large plume of toxic black smoke, visible across Melbourne.
The warehouse where the fire occurred is owned by Danbol Pty Ltd; the sole director and shareholder of which is Christopher James Baldwin, an accountant based in Shepparton, [1] who had been recently raided by ATO for illegal company phoenixing activity. [2] Operating as Bradbury Industrial Services, the warehouse was leased by Graeme Leslie White, who had prior firearms offences [3] [4] , and had other business arrangements with Baldwin. [2] Danbol Pty Ltd brought a lawsuit against Maribyrnong City Council and BOC gas in 2024 for negligence in failing to stop the stockpiling of chemicals on his property. [5]
Emergency services were first called to the factory at 420 Somerville Road, West Footscray around 5am on 30 August 2018, arriving six minutes after the first call. The 100-by-200-metre (330 ft × 660 ft) warehouse was fully alight. 80 firefighters and 20 fire-fighting appliances initially responded, with the number of firefighters eventually rising to more than 140. [6] [7] [8] Firefighters' ability to reach the centre of the fire was hampered by walls of shipping containers and 44 gallon drums stacked up within the warehouse. [8] [9] A week after the fire started, hotspots remained. [9]
Initial investigations in the aftermath of the fire indicated the cause was suspicious. Detectives from the Victoria Police Arson and Explosive Squad assumed responsibility for the investigation into the exact cause of the fire. [10]
WorkSafe Victoria announced after the fire that the warehouse was not registered to store dangerous chemicals. [9] As a result of community concern, Worksafe inspected other industrial properties within the area, and "found dozens ... that also failed to comply with the [Dangerous Goods] act". [9] Environment Protection Authority Victoria also investigated links between the owner of the site, the lessee, and other properties in the north of Melbourne, where industrial chemicals were found to be stored illegally at Lemon Springs in Kaniva. [1]
At the request of the firefighters' union and Metropolitan Fire Brigade, a coronial investigation was opened into the incident. [11]
In the hours after the fire began, authorities issued a "community advice warning" for Brooklyn, Kingsville, Tottenham, West Footscray, Altona North, Braybrook, Footscray, South Kingsville, Spotswood, Sunshine, and Yarraville, with residents being warned to close windows and doors. Residents were still reporting health issues three weeks after the fire. [12] Firefighters were also concerned about the longterm effects of exposure to toxic chemicals. [11] [13]
Within hours of the fire, dead fish, eels, birds and other wildlife were washing up dead on the banks of Stony Creek. [14] The Environment Protection Authority (EPA) warned people not to eat fish from Stony Creek or the lower Yarra River, and not to enter, put their hands into or allow dogs into the creek. [12] As of March 2019, EPA Victoria continues to monitor the water and sediment of Stony Creek for pollutants including phenol, BTEX, PFAS, acetone and butanone. [15]
Campbellfield is a suburb in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, 13 km (8.1 mi) north of Melbourne's Central Business District, located within the City of Hume local government area. Campbellfield recorded a population of 4,977 at the 2021 census.
Brooklyn is a suburb in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, 10 km (6.2 mi) west of Melbourne's Central Business District, located within the Cities of Brimbank and Hobsons Bay local government areas. Brooklyn recorded a population of 1,979 at the 2021 census.
Yarraville is an inner suburb in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, 7 km (4.3 mi) west of Melbourne's Central Business District, located within the City of Maribyrnong local government area. Yarraville recorded a population of 15,636 at the 2021 census.
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Domenic "Mick" Gatto is a professional mediator within the Victorian building industry, and a debt collector. Gatto was named as a standover man during the Royal Commission into the Building and Construction Industry. Gatto was involved in Melbourne's illegal gambling scene in the 1980s and 1990s. In 2004 Gatto was given a ten-year gaming ban, subsequently increased to a lifetime ban.
The Metropolitan Fire Brigade (MFB), also known as the Metropolitan Fire and Emergency Services Board, was a fire service in Victoria, Australia. The MFB provided firefighting, rescue, medical and hazardous material incident response services to the metropolitan area of Melbourne. The MFB's headquarters were located at the Eastern Hill Fire Station in East Melbourne.
West Footscray is an inner-city suburb in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, 7 km (4.3 mi) west of Melbourne's Central Business District, located within the City of Maribyrnong local government area. West Footscray recorded a population of 11,729 at the 2021 census.
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Coode Island is a former island at the convergence of the Yarra and Maribyrnong Rivers, 4 km west of central Melbourne, Australia. The island was formed by the excavation of the Coode Canal in 1887, and became connected to the mainland in the 1930s. Today the low-lying land is part of the Port of Melbourne, and is used as the site of Swanson and Appleton Docks and their associated container storage and rail yards, as well as a number of chemical storage facilities.
Laverton North is a suburb in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, 18 km (11 mi) west of Melbourne's Central Business District, located within the City of Wyndham local government area. Laverton North recorded a population of 119 at the 2021 census.
Donato Antonio "Don" Nardella is an Australian politician. He was a member of the Parliament of Victoria from 1992 until 2018, representing Melbourne North Province in the Legislative Council (1992-1999) and Melton in the Legislative Assembly (1999–2018). He was a member of the Labor Party from 1992 until 2017, when he was forced to resign from the Labor caucus over an expenses scandal; he then sat in parliament as an independent.
The West Gate Tunnel, formerly known as the Western Distributor, is a four kilometre toll road currently under construction in Melbourne, Australia, to link the West Gate Freeway at Yarraville with the Port of Melbourne and CityLink at Docklands via twin tunnels beneath Yarraville, as well as a bridge and elevated road section.
Meng Heang Tak is an Australian politician and former lawyer. He has been a Labor Party member of the Victorian Legislative Assembly since November 2018, representing the seat of Clarinda.
Kathryn Ann Hall is an Australian politician serving as the elected member for the Electoral district of Footscray in the Victorian Legislative Assembly. She is a member of the Australian Labor Party
The 2019 Campbellfield factory fire was a major industrial fire that began in Campbellfield, a suburb of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, on 5 April 2019. The size of the fire site was about 5,000 square metres (53,819.55 sq ft), and it emitted toxic smoke across the city's northern suburbs. The fire was finally extinguished four days after it started.
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