Update Friday 4 January 2019
Despite today’s high temperatures, air monitoring undertaken by Country Fire Authority and Metropolitan Fire Brigade outside the Epping and Campbellfield illegal chemical storage sites, did not detect issues of concern.
Environment Protection Authority Victoria (EPA) officers again spent the day progressing an inventory of the containers which were discovered as part of an investigation in last year’s West Footscray factory fire.
EPA Acting CEO Damian Wells said all necessary contingency planning had been put in place to ensure high levels of safety at the sites including 24/7 on-site security.
"EPA, Hume and Whittlesea councils and its regulatory partners, are in active engagement with local businesses to keep them informed. EPA remains limited in what it can disclose from the investigation to ensure due process is observed, but we are committed to engaging with local businesses to ensure they have an understanding of the issues involved," said Mr Wells.
The sites were identified last Friday (28 December 2018) and contain a significant number of containers including 1,000 litre Intermediate Bulk Containers (IBCs) and 200 litre drums.
"Security and air monitoring will continue while we go about establishing what the contents of the containers are, how best to manage it and who should be held responsible for storing them in what is, a highly illegal manner," said Mr Wells.
BACKGROUND
Around the clock security remains on the site of Friday’s discovery of illegally stored chemical waste in Epping and Campbellfield.
Environment Protection Authority Victoria (EPA) is part of an inter-agency working group assessing the situation and preparing staged risk reduction actions at the sites.
Hume and Whittlesea Councils, EPA, WorkSafe and a range of other local and state based agencies are working in partnership to secure and monitor the site, engage local stakeholders and commence a process to reduce risks at the site over the coming weeks.
The waste was discovered during targeted inspections of industrial sites by EPA, fire agencies, Victoria Police and WorkSafe.
The inspections were the result of EPA’s investigative work following leads in the wake of the West Footscray warehouse fire in August.
The inspections detected concerning amounts of liquid chemical waste stored within warehouses at several sites.
EPA will not be commenting further on the ongoing investigation, but will continue providing updates on the management of the sites, and contacting the local community, businesses and other key stakeholders in proximity to the sites.
All of the agencies are working closely together in a whole of government response, placing priority on preventing harm to the community and the environment from pollution and waste.