A fire at a Laverton North cardboard recycling facility was declared under control late last night.
Fire Rescue Victoria (FRV) crews were called to the blaze at the Plummer Road factory at 12.09pm on Tuesday.
Specialist equipment including an aerial appliance and hazmat unit were used to respond to the incident, along with several pumper fire trucks, while drones were deployed to provide an aerial view of the scene.
FRV said the fuel load was extensive and needed to be broken apart before the blaze could be fully extinguished.
The fire was declared as being under control at 11pm on Tuesday.
Firefighters and other emergency services remained on the scene on Wednesday morning.
Speaking on Tuesday afternoon, FRV commander and incident controller Callum Donoghue said crews worked to protect neighbouring buildings and to minimise the damage to the factory.
“This is a challenging firefight, with flames being 10-15 metres high and an extensive amount of smoke issuing from the site, which contains approximately 36,000 cubic metres of cardboard”, he said.
The Environment Protection Authority Victoria was notified of the incident and attended to assess the site.
The FRV said that crews isolated the building’s power and were removing water runoff from the site that was seeping into the buildings of neighbouring businesses.
Vic Emergency issued a community update on Wednesday morning advising that smoke from the factory will be visible from nearby roads and communities for some time.
