Scores of dead fish, eels wash up after Melbourne factory fire
Dead fish, eels and other marine life have washed up on the banks of a Melbourne waterway after toxic chemicals and firefighting foam entered the creek while crews worked to extinguish a factory fire in the city's west.
Environment Protection Authority chief environmental scientist Dr Andrea Hinwood said chemicals from the fire water run-off could cause fish deaths and stressed that pet owners should keep their dogs away from affected waterways.
"There are a lot of products of combustion in there, unburnt materials, it's discoloured, there is also an odour asosciated with some locations, and there is a large volume of it," she said.
"We are testing up and down stream, we have been since early yesterday, and at the moment we can say it's quite an unfortunate complex of chemicals in the water and we need to assess the extent of it."
The marine life in Stony Creek is believed to have died as a result of low oxygen in the water.
The EPA has also issued a warning against eating fish from the lower part of the Maribyrnong River from the West Gate Bridge, and asked people to avoid Cruickshank Park in Kingsville.
The huge warehouse fire in West Footscray caused toxic smoke to billow across Melbourne's western suburbs on Thursday, and was described by authorities as one of the biggest blazes the city had seen in decades.
More than 50 schools and childcare centres were closed on Thursday as a "watch and act" warning was issued by the Metropolitan Fire Brigade for residents of the western suburbs.
While the smoke has started to decrease, water run-off into Stony Creek remained a "significant issue" and people should stay away from it, Emergency Management Victoria Commissioner Andrew Crisp told 3AW on Friday.
"There's a lot of material that's gone in there and that's actually where people will pick up the smell of the acetone that's come out of the building," he said.
Pumps are being used along the creek to try and rid the creek of contaminated water. The EPA has also erected signs along the banks to notify residents about the poor water quality.
"There’s been significant run off from the incident site which has caused discolouration, contamination and odour in the creek," said a Melbourne Water spokeswoman.
"Melbourne Water has so far removed approximately 30 million litres of affected water from the creek."
Stony Creek runs through the western suburbs of Sunshine, Tottenham, Brooklyn, Footscray West, Yarraville and Spotswood. It meets the Yarra River near the West Gate Bridge.
A number of booms have also been installed to capture debris, oil and foam.
A spokeswoman from Wildlife Victoria said they had one report of a black swan near Hyde Street at Stony Creek reserve which was affected by the pollution, as well as reports a cormorant bird and sheerwater bird were covered in oil. "I imagine more animals will be called in," she said.
Steve Wilson, the president of the Friends of Stony Creek environmental group, said the affect of the fire on the waterway was "devastating".
"I went down yesterday, I first saw a light blue colour coming through, probably paint run off, then the water came down and it was a mucky brown colour with ash on the surface ... and there was a strong chemical smell," he said.
"It was pretty devastating to see it."
He urged the government to review water management around the industrial estate area of West Footscray and Tottenham.
MFB incident controller Trent Curtain said on Friday morning: "The EPA and DHHS are telling us that air quality is safe for the community, the air quality is good.
"It's safe for the community to move about ... The air quality is good in our community today and we will not be closing schools or making recommendations to do so like yesterday," he said.
"There are a whole range of products in the factory: scrap metal, acetones, paint products, oxy acetylene cylinders which were exploding yesterday. It's very difficult to gain access."