Fire at Albion paint factory destroys business and house

Paint tins were exploding into the air and flying onto the street as firefighters battled a massive fire that destroyed a paint factory and a house in Albion, in Brisbane’s inner north overnight.

The blaze started at the factory, on Tate Street, just before midnight and when 30 firefighters and 10 trucks arrived, there were huge flames billowing from the commercial business.

Despite best efforts, the fire spread to the neighbouring two-storey house believed to be used by the business. It could not be saved.

Police inspector Daniel Bragg was one of the first on the scene and said flames were “dozens of metres” high.

“There were paint cans shooting through the air onto the footpath and there’s a number of paint cans still lying on the ground,” he said.

Queensland Fire’s chief superintendent Lance Duncan said fire could be seen, and heard, from the station.

“We believe we’ve got paint drums inside, which were part of many explosions that we heard throughout the night,” he said.

“We put out an advisory messages to local residents informing them of the smoke hazard and we’ve got scientific officers on site at the moment.”

Once the fire was under control, firefighters entered the premises to try to put out hot spots.

But the blaze was still smouldering at 7:00am.

Queensland Fire and Emergency Services Chief Superintendent Lance Duncan they do not know yet how the fire started.

However, it is not being treated as suspicious at this stage.

Nearby residents were evacuated and firefighters are also trying to contain the run-off from the blaze.

Article By ABC News – ABC News – Source Link