Tara Murray
A fire at a recycling centre in Brooklyn, which blew smoke across the western suburbs last week, is under investigation.
Residents of 17 suburbs were forced indoors last Monday amid concerns about smoke from the fire at the Cleanaway Brooklyn Resource Recovery Centre in Old Geelong Road.
An advice message was issued for residents in Altona, Altona Meadows, Altona North, Brooklyn, Laverton North, Seaholme, Williamstown, Williamstown North, Altona Gate, Laverton, Altona East, Seabrook, Newport, South Kingsville, Tottenham, Point Cook and Sunshine West, urging them to close their windows and doors and turn off their air conditioning.
Fire Rescue Victoria crews were called to the fire at 174 Old Geelong Road about 5.40am.
Crews arrived to find a pile of non-hazardous building waste that was well alight.
The fire was brought under control at 6.20am but the smoke surrounded nearby suburbs for a number of hours.
At the height of the fire, there were 65 FRV firefighters and more than 11 firefighting appliances on scene.
Firefighters had some issues accessing water while fighting the fire. All fire water was contained on the site.
The site is a transfer station that backs onto a former landfill and takes all types of waste, e-waste, green waste and skip bins and is not required to have an Environment Protection Authority licence.
A Fire Rescue Victoria spokesperson said on Wednesday that the blaze was still under investigation.
The EPA attended the site on the day of the fire to report on the localised smoke impacts.
