The 2018 West Footscray warehouse fire was a major

industrial fire An industrial fire is a type of industrial disaster involving a conflagration which occurs in an industrial setting. Industrial fires often, but not always, occur together with explosions. They are most likely to occur in facilities where there ...

that occurred in the border of

West Footscray West Footscray or "Wefo" is an inner-city suburb in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, 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 ...

and

Tottenham Tottenham (, , , ) is a district in north London, England, within the London Borough of Haringey. It is located in the Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county of Greater London. Tottenham is centred north-northeast of Charing Cross, ...

, an inner-western suburb of

Melbourne Melbourne ( , ; Boonwurrung language, Boonwurrung/ or ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city of the States and territories of Australia, Australian state of Victori ...

Victoria Victoria most commonly refers to: * Queen Victoria (1819–1901), Queen of the United Kingdom and Empress of India * Victoria (state), a state of Australia * Victoria, British Columbia, Canada, a provincial capital * Victoria, Seychelles, the capi ...

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

, 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.

Background

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 Shepparton () (Yorta Yorta language, Yortayorta: ''Kanny-goopna'') is a city located on the floodplain of the Goulburn River (Victoria), Goulburn River in northern Victoria (Australia), Victoria, Australia, approximately north-northeast of Mel ...

, who had been recently raided by ATO for illegal company phoenixing activity. Operating as Bradbury Industrial Services, the warehouse was leased by Graeme Leslie White, who had prior firearms offences, and had other business arrangements with Baldwin. 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.

Fire

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 warehouse was fully alight. 80 firefighters and 20 fire-fighting appliances initially responded, with the number of firefighters eventually rising to more than 140. Firefighters' ability to reach the centre of the fire was hampered by walls of shipping containers and

44 gallon drum A drum (also called a barrel) is a cylindrical shipping container used for shipping bulk cargo. Drums can be made of steel, dense paperboard (commonly called a fiber drum), or plastic, and are generally used for the transportation and storage of ...

s stacked up within the warehouse. A week after the fire started, hotspots remained.

Investigations

Initial investigations in the aftermath of the fire indicated the cause was suspicious. Detectives from the

Victoria Police Victoria Police is the primary law enforcement agency of the Australian States and territories of Australia, state of Victoria (Australia), Victoria. It was formed in 1853 and currently operates under the ''Victoria Police Act 2013''. , Victor ...

Arson and Explosive Squad assumed responsibility for the investigation into the exact cause of the fire.

WorkSafe Victoria WorkSafe Victoria is the trading name of the Victorian WorkCover Authority, a statutory authority of the state government of Victoria, Australia. History After being renamed in 2014 as Victorian Work-cover Authority by Minister Gordon Rich-P ...

announced after the fire that the warehouse was not registered to store dangerous chemicals. As a result of community concern, Worksafe inspected other industrial properties within the area, and "found dozens ... that also failed to comply with the angerous Goodsact".

Environment Protection Authority Victoria The Environment Protection Authority Victoria (EPA) is Victoria’s environmental regulator. EPA is an independent statutory authority, established in 1971 under the ''Environment Protection Act 1970'' (EP Act). EPA's role is to prevent and red ...

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 Kaniva is a town in Victoria, Australia. It is located on the Western Highway, north of Little Desert National Park, in the Shire of West Wimmera local government area. It is located roughly east of the South Australian border and east of Bo ...

. At the request of the firefighters' union and Metropolitan Fire Brigade, a coronial investigation was opened into the incident.

Health effects

In the hours after the fire began, authorities issued a "community advice warning" for

Brooklyn Brooklyn is a Boroughs of New York City, borough of New York City located at the westernmost end of Long Island in the New York (state), State of New York. Formerly an independent city, the borough is coextensive with Kings County, one of twelv ...

, Kingsville,

Altona North Altona North is a suburb in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, south-west of Melbourne's Melbourne central business district, Central Business District, located within the City of Hobsons Bay Local government areas of Victoria, local government ar ...

, Braybrook, Footscray, South Kingsville, Spotswood,

Sunshine Sunlight is the portion of the electromagnetic radiation which is emitted by the Sun (i.e. solar radiation) and received by the Earth, in particular the visible light perceptible to the human eye as well as invisible infrared (typically per ...

, and

Yarraville Yarraville is an inner-city suburb in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, 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 . Yarraville i ...

, with residents being warned to close windows and doors. Residents were still reporting health issues three weeks after the fire. Firefighters were also concerned about the longterm effects of exposure to toxic chemicals.

Environmental effects

Within hours of the fire, dead fish, eels, birds and other wildlife were washing up dead on the banks of

Stony Creek Stony Creek may refer to the following waterways or communities: Waterways Australia * Stony Creek, a tributary of the Allyn River, in the Hunter region of New South Wales * Stony Creek, a tributary of the Brogo River, in the South Coast region ...

. The Environment Protection Authority (EPA) warned people not to eat fish from Stony Creek or the lower

Yarra River The Yarra River or historically, the Yarra Yarra River, (Kulin languages: ''Berrern'', ''Birr-arrung'', ''Bay-ray-rung'', ''Birarang'', ''Birrarung'', and ''Wongete'') is a perennial river in south-central Victoria, Australia. The lower st ...

, and not to enter, put their hands into or allow dogs into the creek. As of March 2019, EPA Victoria continues to monitor the water and sediment of Stony Creek for pollutants including

phenol Phenol (also known as carbolic acid, phenolic acid, or benzenol) is an aromatic organic compound with the molecular formula . It is a white crystalline solid that is volatile and can catch fire. The molecule consists of a phenyl group () ...

BTEX In the petroleum refining and petrochemical industries, the initialism BTX refers to mixtures of benzene, toluene, and the three xylene isomers, all of which are aromatic hydrocarbons. The xylene isomers are distinguished by the designations ''o ...

PFAS Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (also PFAS, PFASs, and informally referred to as "forever chemicals") are a group of synthetic organofluorine chemical compounds that have multiple fluorine atoms attached to an alkyl chain; there are 7 millio ...

acetone Acetone (2-propanone or dimethyl ketone) is an organic compound with the chemical formula, formula . It is the simplest and smallest ketone (). It is a colorless, highly Volatile organic compound, volatile, and flammable liquid with a charact ...

and

butanone Butanone, also known as methyl ethyl ketone (MEK) or ethyl methyl ketone, is an organic compound with the formula CH3C(O)CH2CH3. This colorless liquid ketone has a sharp, sweet odor reminiscent of acetone. It is produced industrially on a large s ...

Gallery

File:2018 Warehouse fire in West Footscray aerial view fire 3.jpg, Aerial view of the extent of the industrial fire in West Footscray in 2018 File:Smoke 2018 Warehouse fire in West Footscray.jpg, View of the chemical smoke coming from the warehouse fire File:2018 Warehouse fire in West Footscray aerial view 2.png, Aerial view of the firefighters trying to stop the fire in West Footscray

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:West Footscray warehouse fire, 2018 Building and structure fires in Australia Industrial fires and explosions in Australia 2010s in Melbourne 2018 in Victoria (state) 2018 disasters in Australia Disasters in Victoria (state) 2010s fires in Oceania 2018 fires August 2018 in Australia Warehouse fires