RESIDENTS living near GrainCorp at Carrington were evacuated yesterday evening as brigades fought to bring a potentially catastrophic fire in the grain terminal's dust extraction system.
As our resident's photo from Saturday evening shows, flames were clearly visible from the top of the dust unit before Fire and Rescue NSW was able to reach the fire and bring it under control.
A Fire and Rescue spokesperson said the brigades were notified at 5.05pm yesterday over concerns about a fire in the dust extraction system, which had the potential to set fire to 20 tonnes of grain in that immediate part of the plant.
The amount of grain stored in the main silos is much larger, with the terminal having an annual capacity of 2.5 million tonnes a year.
The GrainCorp terminal sits at the southern end of Carrington at the Western Basin, with access from the end of Denison Street.
Denison Street and the surrounding thoroughfares have a mixture of housing and commercial/industrial properties, and the Fire and Rescue spokesperson said this area was subject to an initial evacuation zone that was later reduced, but maintained throughout the night.
The fire had been "stabilised" by about 8.30pm.
Early estimates put the number of people evacuated at about 30, with the final exclusion zone brought back to within only 100 metres of the facility.
The spokesperson said at least five units remained on the scene throughout the night as the fire was stabilised and controlled and the temperatures inside the dust unit lowered by continual spraying with water from brigade pumpers.
Water was still being sprayed over the dust unit this morning, as another resident's photo shows.
The night-time photograph was taken by Fire and Rescue.
From the time the first work went ahead to turn the original Bullock Island into Carrington, the waterfront suburb has had to handle the competing mix of priorities that typify a suburb that is both residential and home to a range of waterfront and industrial businesses.
Although it has been brought under control with minimal damage to surrounding areas, the Carrington fire has rekindled memories of the Wickham woolstore fire of February this year.
The grain terminal has also been the site of earlier fires, including one in 2017.
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