A fire at a scrap metal facility at Launceston, in Tasmania's north, is proving difficult to extinguish due to the shredded "combustible" material inside the warehouse, firefighters say.
The fire at Recycal's Newnham facility, on George Town Road, was first reported about 7:45pm yesterday.
Seven fire crews went to the scene but efforts to put out the blaze were complicated by a large amount of recycled and shredded car parts in the facility, the Tasmania Fire Service (TFS) said.
"TFS crews arrived to find a large amount of smoke exiting a warehouse-type building," the TFS said in a statement.
"Due to the size and nature of the fire, access has proved difficult and as a result Airport Rescue and firefighting crews from Launceston Airport have also responded."
Launceston Fire Brigade acting district officer David Casteller said piles of scrap metal inside the facility were continuing to burn into the late morning.
"The nature of the recycled material — it's been pulverised into smaller particles … it's easily combustible and it's proving difficult for our fire crews to access and extinguish," he said.
"The amount of material that is present in the structure is going to take fire crews some time to deal with.
"Our operations will be ongoing through the course of today and possibly even into tomorrow and we'll see how it goes."
The facility was unoccupied when it caught fire.
Mr Casteller said investigations into the cause were ongoing.
"I'm not going to zero in on any one cause. As I say, it could have been electrical, it could have been a number of causes," he said.
A smoke alert for nearby suburbs and the greater Launceston area will be reassessed later on Tuesday.
"If you are in the immediate area, you can avoid exposure to smoke by staying indoors, closing windows, vents and doors, and turning heat pumps and air conditioners to recirculate or off," the TFS said.
The fire service said there was no threat to the general public but that people should stay away if possible.
The TFS said it estimated the fire would have a $9 million damage bill.
Concerns for run-off into creek
Officers from Tasmania's Environment Protection Authority attended the site to identify any environmental affects from the fire.
The authority collected samples of the run-off from the site — which drains across private farmland, into farm dams and a creek — to evaluate what contaminants were forming.
EPA director Wes Ford said a large volume of water had been used to fight the fire and staff were taking water samples associated with the discharge.
"That water is running down the site… leaving the site and entering the creek and that water will have in it fire-fighting contaminants and just contaminants from burning plastics, burning metals, the other materials that was alight," he said.
Mr Ford said the contaminated water could have a range of affects on the local farms and creek.
"[If] that ends up in the farm dam it might contaminate the farm dam water, and that might mean the farmer is not able to use that water for irrigation." he said.
He said it would also affect the creek itself and would need to be monitored over the coming weeks.
Mr Ford said the EPA would work with the operator over the coming days to work out what was in the storage shed and how much material was burned.
He said the authority would also be involved in the site clean-up.
"Fire waste is controlled waste that needs to be appropriately cleaned up and disposed of," he said.
"We need to assess the waste to determine which is the appropriate landfill site for the material to go to."
