Hallam fireman led fight on factory blaze

By Callan Date
A HALLAM fire officer has explained how more than 120 firefighters tackled “the biggest industrial fire in CFA history” in Dandenong South last week.
Hallam fire officer Troy Thornton was one of the first to arrive at the DTM Transport warehouse last Wednesday and was greeted by a potential disaster scene as flames shot 30 metres into the air.
Mr Thornton, who was in charge of the operation, said about 75 per cent of the warehouse was engulfed in flames when he arrived about 10pm.
“All I had was a couple of minutes to formulate a plan as to how to tackle this fire,” Mr Thornton said.
“You basically have to size the whole place up and the situation you are presented with and work out in what order things need to be done.”
Firefighters had to contend with a dangerous mix of products providing fuel for the fire – including 150,000 litres of motor oil and a huge stockpile of plastics, mattresses and assorted chemicals.
Strong winds made the firefighting effort more difficult for all involved.
However, the battle was won and crews managed to contain the fire to the one area and save several other properties and assets.
“The best way to measure the success of fighting a fire is feedback from the management or owners of the premises and they were very, very happy with our response to this fire,” Mr Thornton said.
He said the blaze battle was a genuine team effort from everyone involved including, volunteer and paid staff from 11 fire brigades.
Mr Thornton was full of praise for the incident management team and sector commanders who helped coordinate the firefighting effort.
“Everyone stuck by us the whole night. None of the volunteers asked to go home and a lot of these people have to get up and go to work the next morning,” he said.
Mr Thornton said the damage bill is expected to top $30 million. Fire officials are still investigating the cause of the fire.