John Ipsen, head of RuralAus that operates the timber mill at Timber Creek, is to inspect a woodchip fire that erupted on Sunday at Timber Creek. Source: The Islander
Ipsen will fly from head office in Perth but would not speculate on the cause of the fire and he could not say when milling operations would resume.
“My number one issue is safety, minimising the damage then containment and extinguishing the fire,” he said.
He said he had received news that a shed had caught alight but that the fire had been extinguished. He had spoken with senior Country Fire Service personnel and Kangaroo Island Mayor Jayne Bates.
“After I have visited the site, I will be happy to give some more information,” he said.
There had been 41 firefighters on site at the peak of the crisis on Sunday. Firefighters continued to fight and monitor a huge woodchip pile fire at the Timber Creek mill.
A public meeting was held on Monday morning at Timber Creek Lodge to inform local residents of the potential danger on this total fire ban day.
An estimated hectare to one and a half hectare area is on fire, an estimated 4500 cubic metres of woodchips.
The largest pile on fire is some 20 metres high, piled up against stairs and platforms supporting the conveyor belt, which carries the waste material to a furnace.
While it could not be confirmed, it is believed the fire started from self-combustion in the largest heap.
Fire crews were alerted to the fire by a neighbour about 11.30pm on Saturday night.
The locked property had to be accessed using bolt cutters and firefighters had to operate heavy machinery to move piles of wood out of the way before they could reach the fire, which was also burning near a 30,000 litre diesel storage tank.
The gantry and packs of timber were alight.
Sealink chartered an extra ferry at 11am yesterday to bring four CFS appliances from the Adelaide Hills with specialised Compressed Air Foam vehicles, and crews.
Local appliances from Western Districts, Parndana, Penneshaw and Department for Environment, Water and Natural Resources were also at the scene.
May said last time the heap had been smouldering, crews had been able to spread it out to put out the fire but this was not possible this time because of weather conditions and the crowded area in which they were working with piles of timber and other products too close by.
He was concerned about the pine forests about 50m from the fire.
He was also concerned about the amount of time volunteers could spend at the site.
“If there’s a hot spot inside with mound we could be here for three weeks. I can’t expect the volunteers to be here all that time,” May said.
He said the company that operates the mill, RuralAus had a licence from the Environment Protection Agency and he was unsure who was responsible for monitoring that storage of materials had complied with licence conditions.
The pump on the site’s fire service had failed and a tanker was bringing water from a nearby farm dam.
