Fire crews from the NSW Rural Fire Service and Fire and Rescue NSW will remain at the scene of a fire on Chapmans Road for the foreseeable future.
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It took about 50 officers to put out the structure fire, which burned down a house and shed, and subsequent grass fires however the blaze was contained to just the one property.
During the middle of the afternoon, as a thick blanket of smoke engulfed the city, police quickly confirmed that nobody had been injured or killed as a result of the fires.
While the fires have been extinguished, fears over some gas tanks in the vicinity of the blaze remain and crews will monitor those while they engage in the mop-up process.
Orana Rural Fire Service Inspector Bob Conran said his crews were called to the scene shortly before 2.30pm on Thursday.
“We had 14 appliance with about 30 firefighters on the scene, and Fire and Rescue NSW had four appliances and probably 20 firefighters,” Insp Conran said.
“We’re going to be out there for a while because while the fires are under control and extinguished, there is still some jobs that need to be attended to.
“Fire and Rescue have taken carriage of the structure fires, we are helping to supply water to them and a 150m exclusion zone has been set up.”
“There are some fears over some acetone in some pressure gas cyliunders nearby.
“When that chemical heats up it becomes very volatile and if they were to be bumped, knocked or fall over they could explode so until the heat has gone out of those tanks a close eye needs to be kept on them.”
During the afternoon, a number of passers-by created havoc along Minore Road and Insp Conran implored people to steer clear of the location,
“We had plenty of sightseers out having a sticky beak and that kind of volume made things a bit difficult,” he said.