ALTHOUGH it was only a relatively minor fire in the end, the potential for a far bigger blaze - or even a catastrophic explosion - led the authorities on Saturday night to evacuate households living in the cluster of streets next to GrainCorp's towering grain terminal.
Questions remained in the minds of some residents late yesterday.
If the fire had first been noticed just after 5pm, and if the authorities say they had it "stabilised" by about 8.30pm, why were residents not moved out until about this time of night?
Time will hopefully provide more certainty around these questions, but the GrainCorp fire provided another reminder - if one was needed - that the Port of Newcastle is an industrial environment, and that this needs to be kept in mind as the gentrification of the inner city continues apace.
Carrington - which began its colonial days as Bullock Island - has always been a mixed suburb of housing and waterfront-related industry.
The generations of wharfies and dockers and their families who lived "on" Carrington (in memory of its island status) accepted this almost without question.
The constant banging of shunting coal trains, the moaning foghorns and the blazing lights of the wharves at night were part and parcel of life in a working suburb.
So too has been the threat of injury or death in what have been historically difficult workplaces.
Thankfully, nobody was hurt through Saturday's fire, but the danger that it encompassed could not really be discounted until millions of litres of water were poured over the crippled unit, reducing its elevated temperature to the point where reignition was no longer possible.
The port's open stockpiles of coal are a major source of dust but the fire in GrainCorp's dust-extraction "baghouse" is a reminder that other products can contribute to particulate pollution.
Conditions attached to GrainCorp's Environment Protection Authority licence indicate the company will be obliged to provide a detailed response to the regulator over Saturday's fire.
GrainCorp says it is too early to summarise the impacts of the fire on its operations, but with east coast grain growers enjoying their second consecutive bumper season, the industry as a whole will be hoping that exports from the Port of Newcastle can continue with minimal disruption.
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