A fire broke out at one of Australia’s two operational oil refineries last night and continues to burn this morning.
Nearby residents were told to shelter indoors immediately, however this advice has been downgraded this morning as the fire is reportedly no longer a threat to the public.
The blaze may impact petrol production, as the refinery supplies 10% of Australia’s fuel and 50% of Victoria’s.
The SMC asked experts to comment.
Guy Coulson, Director of the Air Quality Collective, comments:
“All major fires should be treated as a chemical incident and this one is no different. According to one news report I read, the wind is blowing the smoke over the town of Geelong and people have been advised to stay indoors, which is standard advice for this kind of event. However, most homes are not airtight, so pollutants will get into houses.
“Reports said that what is burning is motor fuel, so the pollutants coming off the fire will be much that same as standing by a busy road. For the (hopefully) short duration of this fire, it shouldn’t be particularly harmful for healthy people but vulnerable people (the very young, very old, those with asthma, cardiovascular problems or are pregnant) may want to keep away. It’s hard to put an actual risk to it because we don’t have any indication of the concentrations.
“Some colleagues and I recently published this article on how to keep track of pollutants during such episodes.”
Conflict of interest statement: No conflicts of interest.
Dr Joel Rindelaub, Senior Lecturer, School of Chemical Sciences, The University of Auckland, comments:
“Air pollution is a serious health hazard that can negatively impact the lungs, heart, and even the brain. The air particles originating from combustion activities are typically associated with increased health risks, due to the small size of the particles produced and the potential to contain carcinogenic compounds. I would definitely recommend avoiding the area, fire smoke is no joke.”
Conflict of interest statement: “No conflicts of interest to declare.”
Dr Nicola Day, Senior Lecturer, Fire Ecologist, School of Biological Sciences, Victoria University of Wellington, comments:
“Oil refineries are obviously a high risk for fires, due to the large amount of combustible fuels in one place. Since fire is a known risk, precautions are taken to reduce this risk and contain any fires that could occur so that it doesn’t ignite surrounding vegetation or infrastructure. The refinery would be made up of building materials that has been researched and known to have low flammability or ignition risk, for example. Toxic smoke is probably the biggest risk to the public at this stage, so people within a few hundred kilometres of the refinery would be wise to pay attention to wind direction and public notices.”
Conflict of interest statement: “No conflicts.”
Professor Allan Blackman, School of Science, Auckland University of Technology, comments:
“Given that oil refineries deal with huge amounts of highly inflammable materials, you can be sure that safety is absolutely paramount in these places. However, accidents can and do happen, and the primary concern in this instance will be extinguishing the fire.
“One can assume that it will be possible to isolate the affected area from the rest of the refinery, and blocking the supply of oxygen to the fire, usually by covering with fire-fighting foam, is generally the first method used, if feasible, to put out the blaze. However, it appears in this case that they are letting the fire burn itself out, which does confirm that isolation has been successful, and that the fire might well be too large and/or dangerous to fight. A refinery fire in Taiwan earlier this month was extinguished by firefighters, presumably using foam.”
Conflict of interest statement: “No conflict of interest.”