Firefighters battling Melbourne's largest industrial blaze on record have said they had to use broken, dangerous and outdated equipment to fight the flames.
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The United Firefighters Union said on Monday equipment needed by firefighters during the factory fire was unavailable due to being moved to parts of the city to replace other machinery that was out of service.
The inferno was sparked by a mammoth explosion at a Derrimut factory, in Melbourne's west on July 10, shooting chemical drums into the air.
No-one was injured and it was declared under control hours later after more than 180 firefighters fought the biggest industrial fire in years.
One 20-year-old pumper truck failed to produce foam twice during the response and firefighters were forced to use equipment that was slower to set up.
The union said this forced firefighters closer to bulk stores of flammable chemicals and the fire grew rapidly during the time it took to establish these positions.
The union's Victorian secretary Peter Marshall said the equipment issues could be the difference in being able to contain major fires early before they spread or intensify.
"You cannot put firefighters into a situation where they haven't got the tools to do the job," he said.
"We need to have a rolling replacement program, the government needs to intervene in this.
"Invest in the fire trucks before one of our members gets injured or worse."
Nearly a quarter of Fire Rescue Victoria's fleet were involved in fighting the blaze with one-in-two of the vehicles at the scene past their use-by date.
A Fire Rescue Victoria spokeswoman said more than three million litres of water and 40,000 litres of foam were needed to stop the blaze.
"FRV deployed employees with mechanical skills and experience to the scene to ensure appliances were fuelled and remained in operational condition," she said.
However, the spokeswoman said a decision was made early on in the response to not place firefighters too close to the blaze.
This involved using uncrewed firefighting equipment to reduce exposure to firefighters.
More than 80 firefighters were called to another major fire on Saturday morning; this time at a plastic shipping pallet factory in Deer Park, west of Melbourne's CBD.
Australian Associated Press
