ABOUT 30 fire fighters attended a fire at Orica's Kooragang Island facility on Saturday night after one of the processing stacks in the ammonia plant caught alight. They were on the scene for about four hours from 9pm along with ambulance crews who attended as a precaution.
A spokesman for Fire and Rescue NSW said there were no injuries and was no threat to the community. "Obviously, we were a little concerned but the wind was blowing from the west, blowing the smoke out to sea," he said. "We had our HAZMAT team on the scene to monitor the environment."
An Orica spokeswoman said the fire occurred on the outside of a carbon dioxide removal vessel.
"The operators immediately commenced the safe shutdown of the ammonia plant in accordance with the site's emergency response plan," she said.
The fire was extinguished with the assistance of NSW Fire and Rescue and there was no 'off-site risk to the community or the environment', and there no injuries.
"All relevant authorities have been notified of the incident. There will be no impact on the supply of products to Orica's customers."
An investigation into the cause of the fire is underway.
