By Cam Lucadou-Wells
A lithium battery is believed to have ignited a garbage truck fire in Doveton on Monday 24 January.
The battery was within hard waste collected by City of Casey contractor WM Waste that morning before the load caught fire at Kidds Road just before 7.25am.
The truck’s operators ejected the fiery load onto the street near Doveton Pool in the Park.
Casey waste and sustainability manager Michael Jansen said the crew unsuccessfully tried to control the blaze with a fire extinguisher.
“Following this attempt, and as per safety procedures, the crew safely unloaded the waste where it could be controlled.”
Within minutes, about seven FRV firefighters and a crew from Hallam CFA arrived. They brought the fire under control within eight minutes.
The waste was then removed in a skip bin. A street sweeper cleaned any remaining material from the road.
Mr Jansen said it was an “important reminder” for residents not to place the wrong items in hard waste.
“Batteries should never be put in your hard waste or household bins and can be recycled through specialised services.”
Local drop off centres for used household batteries include Aldi, Officeworks, Battery World or a local transfer station.
Car batteries can be disposed at a local transfer station including Outlook Environmental in Hampton Park, Future Recycling in Pakenham, Cleanaway Lysterfield Resource Recovery Centre and The Frankston Recycling Centre in Skye.
Other unacceptable hard waste items include gas bottles, building materials, fire extinguishers, chemicals, barbed wire and paint.
Details: casey.vic.gov.au/what-we-can-cant-collect
