A major oil refinery in Geelong, which supplies half of Victoria’s fuel and 10% of the nation’s, exploded into flames on Wednesday night and the blaze was still out of control by first light on Thursday.
Fire Rescue Victoria said they responded to an incident at the Mogas (motor gasoline) unit at Viva oil refinery in Corio around 11.15pm Thursday.
They attended “following multiple calls to Triple Zero (000) reporting explosions and flames”, FRV said in a statement issued at 5am Thursday.
“The fire is not yet under control although is currently contained to the plant / area of origin and involves liquid fuels and gases.
“All emergency response personnel and Viva employees have been accounted for and there have been no reported injuries.”
Ronnie Hayden, state secretary of the Victorian branch of the Australian Workers’ Union, told ABC Radio Melbourne between 50-100 workers were on site when the fire broke out about 11pm last night and that the evacuation “went to plan”.
“These guys have been highly trained in emergency response and emergency evacuation, and I think that’s the main reason why there were no fatalities.”
Hayden said on Thursday morning that the fire “should be out within the next couple of hours”, and workers and authorities would then be able to better understand the impact.
“We don’t know until we actually get in. We’re just speculating. I’d be surprised if we weren’t shut down for a few days, but it could be a lot longer. It could get it done quicker. We just need to get in and have a look.”
The Viva refinery is a “70-year-old facility” that has always required regular maintenance, he added.“Our health and safety rep so members are out there, and they identify the issues, and most of them get fixed up pretty quickly.”
FRV warned residents in areas south of the Viva oil refinery in Corio – one of Australia’s two remaining refineries – to stay inside to avoid smoke.
A watch and act for local residents was issued at 1am, which was later downgraded to an advice message on the VicEmergency website about 5.30am. It said the threat was “reduced” and residents were “now able to resume normal activities”.
“The fire is still being fought by fire fighters but there is no threat to the public,” it read.
Geelong’s mayor, Stretch Kontelj, said the fire was “unprecedented” in scale.
“Speaking to the management, no one can recall an incident of this magnitude either,” he told ABC radio Melbourne on Thursday morning.
“From reports, it is coming under control. But it’s going to take a while, a few hours yet, I think, for the material to burn off before they can get into the affected area more substantially.”
The refinery said no one had been reported injured so far, and that there was no immediate impact on fuel supplies.
The federal energy minister, Chris Bowen, said petrol, diesel and jet fuel continued to be produced at the refinery at reduced levels as a safety precaution, however there would be an impact on production of petrol.
“I’m sure that petrol production will continue but it may be impacted for some time,” Bowen told ABC News Breakfast.
He said there would be an investigation into the cause of the fire but at this stage it “appears to an accident at this point”.
More details to come…
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