West Australian Government inspectors are looking into five separate fires involving trucks at a single mine site.

Premier Coal has had to park-up all 22 of their Unit Rig MT4400 electric drive trucks, following a series of incidents in the past three weeks.

The WA Department of Mines and Petroleum has confirmed it is investigating the following incidents;

The first was on October 6, when a failed clamp on one truck’s leaked oil onto the exhaust side of the turbo, which ignited.

The second happened two days later, when oil from the previous leak soaked onto the engine exhaust lagging, causing a small fire.

Then on October 19, an MT440 driver was alerted to a fire by a nearby grader operator, and had to activate the fire suppression equipment and exit the truck.

“While undertaking investigations onsite today DMP issued an improvement notice requiring repairs to oil leaks on several of the MT4400 trucks to be made within a specified period,” said DMP Mines Safety Director Andrew Chaplyn.

“The company’s decision to park up the trucks was made in an effort to regain confidence in the trucks, and any faults found will be repaired before the trucks are returned to work.”

Mr Chaplyn said preliminary investigations had found the company fulfilled its obligations and complied with all directions so far, and had conceded that disruptions to operations could last for several weeks.

The authorities say Premier Coal is conducting maintenance procedures, and working on a fire prevention program for maintenance personnel and operators.

The investigations into the fire incidents will continue.