Fire and Rescue NSW crews isolate potentially explosive gas cylinder at industrial site | Port Kembla

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4. Fire and Rescue NSW crews isolate potentially explosive gas cylinder at industrial site - Port Kembla

Fire and Rescue NSW crews isolate potentially explosive gas cylinder at industrial site - Port Kembla

Published: 14 Feb 2024 04:08pm

Fire and Rescue NSW (FRNSW) today has isolated the last of the gas cylinders which ignited at an industrial facility at Port Kembla, in the state's Illawarra.

Eight cylinders of highly flammable and potentially explosive 'acetylene' caught fire at the Springhill Road facility around 10:30am yesterday.

Dozens of FRNSW firefighters, including hazardous materials (HAZMAT) experts, responded to the incident and protected surrounding buildings.

The final cylinder burnt-out around 2am today and a short time later was found to be decomposing.

HAZMAT crews placed it in a hazardous waste drum full of water, preventing its contents from overheating and combusting.

It will remain in that bin for approximately 24 hours until all the gas releases.

FRNSW operations at the site finished around 11:30am.

SafeWork NSW is working with the site operator to investigate the incident.