Extra units called in to fight gas installer factory fire

Some 60 fire fighters and 15 fire units were used to fight a fire in a factory on Rawson Rd, Woy Woy, at around 6pm on Tuesday, July 6.

Commuters returning home by train watched as a stream of six or more police and emergency vehicles from Gosford rushed past Woy Woy station with lights flashing and sirens wailing.

The factory was used to install liquid petroleum gas kits in motor vehicles.

Fire and Rescue NSW Central Coast inspector Mark Delves said the presence of between 30 and 50 LPG cylinders of different sizes at the rear of the premises meant the first fire fighters to respond to the emergency were "faced with an aggressive fire".

"The first crews from Umina and Kariong were faced with protecting the two adjoining premises from the heat and flames and from the fire spreading to a nearby electricity sub-station located across a laneway from the factory," Inspector Delves said.

"They worked quickly to manage those three exposures and then asked for more resources to assist in fighting the fire," he said.

Inspector Delves said resources utilised to fight the blaze included fire trucks, a rescue vehicle from Gosford and a hazmat vehicle from Berkeley Vale along with aerial platforms.

"The fire fighters very quickly put their water on the gas cylinders to prevent them from exploded; none of them exploded but they were burning vigorously."

Traffic management came under the control of the Brisbane Water Local Area Command and, according to Inspector Delves, police moved to close Rawson Rd and other nearby streets until the situation was considered safe for traffic.

"The owner of the premises attended the fire and couldn't give any reason as to why it had started in that part of the building," he said.

The fire took 30 minutes to contain and hours to completely extinguish.

Fire fighters did not leave the scene until the whole building was assessed and secured.

"I would like to give an acclamation to the first arriving crews who faced such an aggressive fire."

Officers attached to Brisbane Water LAC continue to investigate the cause of the fire.

There have been no reports of damage to neighbouring buildings and nobody was injured.

SOURCES:

Website, 4 Jul 2017

Trevor Moore, Umina Fire Station

Interview, 6 Jul 2017

Mark Delves, Fire and Rescue NSW Central Coast