Mine fire quietened while water health risk heats up
After more than month of constant haze, fumes, smoke and flames; the long-burning fire at the Hazelwood open cut mine is now under control, leaving authorities to try to tackle the health risks it has created.
A massive team of fire-fighters and other emergency crews have been on the ground near the Victorian town of Morwell to suppress the partly sub-terranean fire, which it is suspected was deliberately lit.
Victoria's Fire Services commissioner Craig Lapsley has declared fire is controlled.
"There is no expectation of any further fire activity of any significance, and there won't be any fire moving out of the pit, is our estimate at this stage," he said.
But that may not be the end, CFA's John Haynes indicated.
“The extinguishment of the fire is going be a long duration because of its coal content,” he said.
Estimates over the weekend said about 85 per cent of the fire had been suppressed.
But even now that the flames are dying, health authorities will have ongoing issues from the fire.
Complaints and subsequent tests have shown that the wastewater used to fight the protracted inferno is full of dangerous and potentially deadly bacteria.
One fire-fighter has reportedly required extensive surgery and stitches on his hand after a small cut became infected by the wastewater.
The United Firefighters Union (UFU) has spent $9,000 independently testing the water used on the mine fire, with 13 fire-fighters separately raising concerns.
Union spokesperson Mick Tisbury said “quite frankly the results are horrific”.
“They show extreme levels of e-coli, extreme levels of chloroforms and extreme levels of a bacteria called pseudomonas aeruginosa,” he told the ABC.
“One of the side effects is you could have a small nick on your body, a small cut and this micro-organism is very opportunistic and it will get in there and cause things like septicaemia.”
Extra checks by the Environmental Protection Agency will hopefully help limit the fire-fighters exposure as the blaze continues, and those on the ground have been directed to wear special gloves and eye protection.
Victorian Premier Denis Napthine said over the weekend that his thoughts were with the injured fire-fighters, but the official advice said the water and the air quality was adequate.