By Violet Li
An overnight fire at the Stevensons Brothers Industries (SBI) waste transfer station last week alerted the surrounding residents as it has been the fifth fire relevant to SBI in recent years.
Three CFA units attended the scene from Langwarrin, Cranbourne and Narre Warren at around 8.21pm on 4 July and they encountered a large pile of burning rubbish.
SBI updated on its website that it was once again the target of an arson attack as a 35-tonne excavator was set on fire.
“Fire Rescue Victoria attended the site and shortly thereafter had the fire under control,” SBI stated.
“Victoria Police detectives called to the scene have deployed all manner of supporting services to apprehend the guilty parties, with uniformed officers remaining on the scene till mid-morning.
“SBI notes that no waste either from the cell or the transfer station was impacted during this event.
“All residue from the incident will be addressed in a manner compliant with the requirements of EPA.”
The fire spread to a stockpile of mixed plastic waste at the station and was suspected to have caused more than 20 reports of odour in the local area, EPA posted on its Facebook account.
EPA Southern Metropolitan Regional Manager Viranga Abeywickrema said EPA Victoria took a zero-tolerance approach to fires involving combustible and recyclable waste material (CRWM), and its Fire Prevention Program (FPP) had conducted more than 1000 proactive inspections since it began in 2017.
“The SBI Landfill is the subject of ongoing EPA attention and in the past year has been the subject of supreme court action.
“The fire on 4 and 5 July is still the subject of an ongoing investigation.”
The first fire occurred in the landfill on 14 February 2022, the second one on 2 November 2023, the third one on 25 November 2023, and the fourth one on 14 January 2024.
Police advised that the cause of the fires in 2023 and 2024 might point to arson.
Locals had previously expressed security concerns about the landfill.
