18 November 2013
More than 100 Australian firefighters from 11 brigades tackled a huge almond hull fire near Mildura in New South Wales. CFA (Country Fire Authority) crews worked to contain the blaze that investigators at the scene believe may have be the result of spontaneous combustion.
The massive fire at the Singapore-based company’s premises is reckoned to have involved around 40,000 tonnes of almond hulls stored adjacent to the factory. It was the second big almond hull fire in Sunraysia – an area of north-western Victoria and south-western New South Wales – after hull piles also caught on fire in October at Robinvale, causing an estimated Aud$200,000 million damage.
The fibrous almond hulls usually become stock feed, but the Mildura hulls were destined to be the fuel for a million dollar power plant expected to be built next year. There were no reports of casualties or injuries as a result of the fire and it caused minimal structural damage to the external conveyor systems.
