Tara Murray
The Barro Group has indicated fires at the Kealba Landfill won’t be out by the end of July, after unsafe ground conditions resulted in remediation works being suspended.
The Environment Protection Authority earlier this year gave the group until July 31 to put out the underground fires, which have been burning for more than 18 months.
In an online community meeting on Wednesday night, Barro spokesman Steve Murphy told the residents that they were recalculating the date for when work would be completed.
He later told Star Weekly that they will hopefully have an estimated conclusion date in the coming days.
“As we’re seeing it at the moment, we will struggle to meet that July 31 deadline,” he said.
“There’s a number of reasons emerging. We haven’t been helped this week, as we’ve effectively lost a week as rain has impacted the site.
“We will struggle to meet that deadline and want to be upfront with the community about it and put it on the deck.
“We want this thing done like everybody else.”
Mr Murphy said there appeared to be issues with ho tspots three and four, and hot spot on,e which will be the last one they put out.
He said they had got to the bottom of hot spots three and four, but believed there could be fire in a nearby wall.
“We’re getting a heat signature in a wall near hot spots three and four,” he said. “It indicates there is likely some more warm and hot waste further into the wall.
“We just can’t leave it there. The wall is probably 25 to 30 metres from top to bottom, we just can’t start at the bottom.”
Mr Murphy said they believed hot spot number one has expanded.
He said both these issues would mean more hot and warm waste would be needed to be moved.
“We’re not cutting corners and we have no desire to cut corners. We want it done and done probably.”
At the meeting the EPA indicated that would look at measures to help residents who are concerned about health impacts.
An EPA spokesperson said that they will be reaching out to GPs in the area surrounding Kealba Landfill in the coming days.
“We recognise the importance of supporting existing care pathways for residents who may have health concerns,” the spokesperson said.
“We have identified local general practice medical clinics (GPs) in the area and will be providing a factsheet with information on the remediation occurring at the landfill and the concerns and issues expressed by the community.
“This is to help support local doctors in their assessment and discussion with their patients.
“The safety and wellbeing of residents living near the Kealba Landfill site is a priority for the Environment Protection Authority Victoria (EPA), as is keeping them informed about the clean-up of the landfill site.”
