Mitchell factory fire. ESA Reports of the major emergency.

Nifty said :

One for posterity: will we remember 9/16 as Canberra’s 9/11?

It’s great to see Americans posting here.

Just for future reference, the non-US world uses d.m.y, not m.d.y.

mareva said :

Oh good the fire’s out. I just got a message confirming it.

“The Mitchell fire has been put out. Youse are free to go outside.”

This is a joke – right?

mareva said :

Youse are free to go outside.”

Okay, I have now conditioned myself to trust messages written in colloquial English as genuine. Anything in well written English will be treated with skepticism.

Oh good the fire’s out. I just got a message confirming it.

“The Mitchell fire has been put out. Youse are free to go outside.”

ESA now reporting fire is out. Hats off to all the firies, ESA, and Emergency Comms personnel for a job very well done! Thanks for looking after us.

dtc said :

Well done to 666, especially Julian Abbott and one of their female reporters (Jessica ?? sorry, cant remember her name) who, it seems, were called into the studio very early morning and kept things going and updated constantly. Ross Solly as well – looks like some lessons learnt from the bushfires. Obviously the ESA and the police get all credit as well

I wasn’t impressed with Ross Solly – woke up about 7 to his talking – it took about 20 minutes before he said anything about what had actually happened. We are in the inner north and he went on about staying inside, 10 kilometre exclusion zones (from where?), schools and turning off heaters but we had no idea why. A regular statement “For those who have just tuned in/woken up……” would have been helpful.

“The autocorrect thing often does that and when you’re in a hurry you are likely to let those stupid corrections go through”

Yes, it autocorrects it to a spelling mistake Einstein

Nifty said :

One for posterity: will we remember 9/16 as Canberra’s 9/11?

You appear to already have forgotten Canberra’s 1/13 (2003 bushfires) so no.

bigfeet said :

Jurls said :

Smokin’ zombies? 😀 😀

Smokin’ Hot Stripper Zombies?

I like the sound of that.

Transformers 4 : Revenge of the zombie strippers

Jurls said :

Smokin’ zombies? 😀 😀

Smokin’ Hot Stripper Zombies?

I like the sound of that.

Mr Gillespie said :

or was it an ESB computer (interfaced with a normal QWERTY keyboard) running a system that sends text messages?

This.

Regarding all those who have picked up on the spelling in the SMS alert that was put out.

A question (and I apologise to the hard-working emergency services personnel for all the insults they have copped for what may be a case of being hideously busy in between a huge number of 000 calls)

What device did the emergency service worker use to send out the message?

Was it a piece-of-s*** Nokia type “phone” that has only a numberpad with “ABC”, “DEF” “GHI” etc. above the numbers? HATE those things being relied upon to send text messages!!!!!

or was it an iPhone? The autocorrect thing often does that and when you’re in a hurry you are likely to let those stupid corrections go through

or was it an ESB computer (interfaced with a normal QWERTY keyboard) running a system that sends text messages?

One for posterity: will we remember 9/16 as Canberra’s 9/11?

Different kind of contender for the Mully Cup this month! : )

And now the home-time commute drama begins…
Barton Hwy building. Horse Park Drive still flowing freely as seen from upstairs.

Big Things in Store at Mitchell has been cancelled. Bummer.

Gerry-Built said :

I think it is fantastic that we’ve had a relatively low-impact emergency to test emergency procedures, and most, albeit for some typos, seem to have risen to the challenge. Well done to everyone who had a part to play in dealing with the emergency, and making the tough calls that were needed. It seems we are in good hands should a more intense emergency present itself, especially now everyone has a chance to rub out the little gremlins in those systems…

+1

As emergencies go, this isn’t a bad one, and it does present a great dry run for what might happen in a full-scale crisis. Generally I think it’s been very well-handled by all involved, spelling mistakes or no (you knew what the poor sod was trying to tell you, didn’t you? So stop picking on them, they’re probably embarrassed enough!).

HKL said :

Just read a article that the site stores PCB – widely used as coolant fluids in transformers. quote]

Wow, Transformers Vs Zombies. Could be an interesting Friday night in Mitchell.

Stay inside advisory just issued by Fire Brigade for north Canberra suburbs – another wind change after the recent additional explosions. Keeping the latest summaries of everything I can find on http://www.facebook.com/gungahlin

bigfeet said :

Jurls said :

Mitchell is still an exclusion zone as far as I know. 🙂

Because of smoke or zombies?

Smokin’ zombies? 😀 😀

Jurls said :

Mitchell is still an exclusion zone as far as I know. 🙂

Because of smoke or zombies?

gospeedygo said :

Umm to be fair, 666 were on pretty damn early this morning even before riotact had been updated.

Yeah, they do an excellent job. We didn’t listen for long – maybe ten minutes – without any mention of it, though. Perhaps if we’d waited longer we would have heard something.

bigfeet said :

Does anyone know if the procedure is to send an SMS cancelling the previous warning (to stay indoors)

I can’t find anything rescinding it on the ESA website and am just wondering what the procedure is.

North Canberra (except Mitchell) was free to move around from 7:35am according to the latest news page on the ESA website. Mitchell is still an exclusion zone as far as I know. 🙂

Does anyone know if the procedure is to send an SMS cancelling the previous warning (to stay indoors)

I can’t find anything rescinding it on the ESA website and am just wondering what the procedure is.

An ESA spokesman said the factory had drums of transformer oil and of sodium powder, which were believed to be causing the explosions. The spokesman said the explosions were using up fuel. “Every time there is an explosion, it is one less thing we have to worry about,” he said.

There’s always an optimist.

The head of the ESA advised on 666 this morning that the PCB was being stored in a 1% solution.

I have more concerns about the pure sodium coming into contact with the water being sprayed on site… now that’s got potential to cause some wicked explosions.

Just read a article that the site stores PCB – widely used as coolant fluids in transformers.

No information is being given by media/government even when PCB is toxic and has mutagenic effects by interfering with hormones in the body.

PCBs, have been shown to both inhibit and imitate estradiol, the main sex hormone in females – limitation of the estrogen can feed breast cancer cells, and possibly cause other cancers, such as uterine or cervical. Inhibition of estradiol can lead to serious developmental problems for both males and females.

ThisIsAName said :

There was a massive explosion with sparks around 2:15am – I swear I heard some people cheering like it was a fireworks show. Sounded like it was from around the proposed oval (?) area.

Ah ha. Sounds like the whole thing was engineered to cloak what was really going on: an illegal backyard cracker night!

I’ve just heard it’s all good peeps. Turns out all the hoopla is because Michael Bay is in town filming a new movie.

Are there any scientists here? anyone with any measuring equipment that could post some figures of phosgene concentrations in the air in the local surrounds?

Remember the bushfires when the ACT government told us there was nothing to be worried about until too late.

affordable said :

how does emergency SMS work, live 50m from Mitchell, no message, friend in Armidale received SMS

http://www.emergencyalert.gov.au/frequently-asked-questions/how-does-it-work.html

Your mobile phone company may not have your current address on its records. It’s currently based on the address you supplied to your provider rather than your phone’s location, although they’re working on that.

Gungahlin Al said :

The entire factory exploded bang on 2am. Explosions 100m into the sky

There was a massive explosion with sparks around 2:15am – I swear I heard some people cheering like it was a fireworks show. Sounded like it was from around the proposed oval (?) area.

If there are zombie strippers, at least we will have an instruction video

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0960890/

I’m calling this as a mere Coode Island, not a Bhopal.

johnboy said :

Oh god, angry strippers, that’s all i need.

That and a few beers would be all i need too!

Jim Jones said :

New reports just to hand indicate that a toxic chemical cloud caused by the fire is almost certain to reanimate corpses and start the zombie apocalypse. Residents are advised to die in great numbers at the hands of flesh-hungry undead hordes, with survivors to form small, rag-tag groups that battle one another for access to quickly depleting resources.

Not again!?! FFS, I just killed off the last lot.

Jim Jones said :

New reports just to hand indicate that a toxic chemical cloud caused by the fire is almost certain to reanimate corpses and start the zombie apocalypse. Residents are advised to die in great numbers at the hands of flesh-hungry undead hordes, with survivors to form small, rag-tag groups that battle one another for access to quickly depleting resources.

They’ll have that mean and hungry look, too. Not much in the way of brains out there in Mitchell. Flesh, maybe.

Facebook’s having fun with the emergency warning:

http://www.facebook.com/pages/I-was-a-resadent-during-the-Mitchell-gas-explosion-insadent/288466167833586

How long before we see NIMBYs in Franklin and Crace start lobbying the govt to get industry (other than the adult entertainment industry) out of Mitchell? Even though factories was there first – they’d just argue the developers didn’t mention this in their glossy brochures and they didn’t look across the road to check what was there.

It’s an all too common phenomenon/tactic. Hopefully the government doesn’t give in. But as to who it was that approved houses in Franklin to be built right across the road from Mitchell — heads should roll. Of course, this being Canberra, they won’t. No one is ever responsible for anything in the ACT bureacracy – one agency just blames another. A classic case of the SNAFUs

I think it is fantastic that we’ve had a relatively low-impact emergency to test emergency procedures, and most, albeit for some typos, seem to have risen to the challenge. Well done to everyone who had a part to play in dealing with the emergency, and making the tough calls that were needed. It seems we are in good hands should a more intense emergency present itself, especially now everyone has a chance to rub out the little gremlins in those systems…

Deref said :

We live in Kaleen. We were woken by the explosions but, to me at least, it sounded like possums on the roof. The call came over our landline, but it was brief and the Mrs was half asleep – it said to call Canberra Connect, which we did, but it was unstaffed and there was no information available. We tuned to 666 but there was no info on that either, so we assumed that the call had been a hoax.

We have two mobiles, one with Optus and one with TransACT, but we didn’t get the SMS – if we had, the appalling spelling would definitely have screamed HOAX!

Later we got an SMS from our daughter in France, for krisesakes, saying “Big fire in chemical factory in Mitchell – stay indoors and keep windows and doors closed”.

I know the SMS technology is still under development so I can understand not getting the SMS. Nevertheless, I’d suggest:

– Repeating the landline message (not calling twice, just saying the message twice);
– If they advise calling Canberra Connect, make sure that there’s info available and that the number is provided as part of the message; and
– Making sure that the person writing the SMS has graduated from primary school.

If I’d had half a brain I would have logged on to RiotACT which, it seems, is Canberra’s most reliable news source. Well done, Johnboy and Rioters!

Umm to be fair, 666 were on pretty damn early this morning even before riotact had been updated.

Jim Jones said :

New reports just to hand indicate that a toxic chemical cloud caused by the fire is almost certain to reanimate corpses and start the zombie apocalypse.

Bugger. I knew it. Just typical.

Jim Jones said :

New reports just to hand indicate that a toxic chemical cloud caused by the fire is almost certain to reanimate corpses and start the zombie apocalypse. Residents are advised to die in great numbers at the hands of flesh-hungry undead hordes, with survivors to form small, rag-tag groups that battle one another for access to quickly depleting resources.

Thanks for the heads up! We’re on it. Am keeping a close eye on the neighbour. One step off that driveway towards ours and she’s a goner!

Jim Jones said :

New reports just to hand indicate that a toxic chemical cloud caused by the fire is almost certain to reanimate corpses and start the zombie apocalypse. Residents are advised to die in great numbers at the hands of flesh-hungry undead hordes, with survivors to form small, rag-tag groups that battle one another for access to quickly depleting resources.

Weird. I just updated fb to say the same thing. Maybe we’re empaths?

how does emergency SMS work, live 50m from Mitchell, no message, friend in Armidale received SMS
must admit did not need it as observed the whole thing from 2am

Since reading about this toxic plume settling all over North Canberra I am start ing to feel off-colour. My nose is itchy and there’s a tingle in the back of my throat. I’ve definitely got a headache comeing on, as well as a strange empty feeling in my stomach, as though this morning’s breakfast has somehow not lasted through the morning. A persistent niggle in one of my anterior muscles is definitely getting worse.

What I want to know is how many Bhopal-type chemicals have been released into the atmosphere, to descend on us and slowly and insidiously poison us as we vainly try our best to keep the wheels of government turning? Not all chemicals are visible you know, there might be all sorts of nerve agents and cancer-causing compunds being released invisibly, while we are forced to wait the emergency out in sealed offices. As yet, not one ACT Government representative has come to my desk to tell me what’s going on.

Does anyone know of a good no-win no-fee law firm I can contact to get compensation for the stress this poorly-managed emergency has caused, not to mention the long term effects of all the possible invisible chemicals that escape the toxic visible plume and rain down on unsuspecting hard working Australian family citizens such as myself. Oh, and while we’re at it, thanks for nothing ACTION. I was sitting on the side of Northbourne Ave this morning, pencil in hand, waiting for a particular bus I needed to complete my spotter’s log for September ahead of time, and now all my plans have been thrown into disarray.

Was speaking to a friend this morning who was at their office about 50m away last night @ 11.30pm (Small IT biz, don’t start on the Mitchell jokes). Apparently they went outside and saw it was initially just coming out of the chimney, so they thought it was fairly normal. But then it started to get worse so they called it in… apparently they stayed until the cops and firies showed up and got a statement and then the wind changed and started blowing the smoke towards them so they left.

Huge chemical fire right next door to a cemetery??

Zombie Apocalypse, here we come!!

New reports just to hand indicate that a toxic chemical cloud caused by the fire is almost certain to reanimate corpses and start the zombie apocalypse. Residents are advised to die in great numbers at the hands of flesh-hungry undead hordes, with survivors to form small, rag-tag groups that battle one another for access to quickly depleting resources.

Hmmm, correction, the wind is now from the NNW, so blowing straight at us. The easterly would have been a temporary overnight effect that comes with the warmer season. NW is the prevailing winds this week.

Oh, how I hope they have their testing right!

akinky said :

i’m at the airport, behind mt majura which has been shrouded in smoke all morning. definite chemical tang in the air outside. bhopal it is.

Yep. I’m looking from the airport to Mt Majura, and the smoke has made quite a haze between there and here. The obs say the wind is from the east, but somehow the smoke has gone east of the fire. I hope their testing is accurate and there’s no airborne toxins. Our building’s air con is busy doing its thing!

A few Munchausen sufferers at my work are having meltdowns of their own this morning. Despite living/working on the other side of town.

poetix said :

Can I just say how this proves that the RA is good for purposes apart from recommending the best place for sticky rice and whinging about the Chronicle? Excellent place to find out about a worrying event.

+1!

We didn’t get any warnings despite being in Lyneham (and all addresses are up to date, we have a landline etc). Anyone else have this happen?

We live in Kaleen. We were woken by the explosions but, to me at least, it sounded like possums on the roof. The call came over our landline, but it was brief and the Mrs was half asleep – it said to call Canberra Connect, which we did, but it was unstaffed and there was no information available. We tuned to 666 but there was no info on that either, so we assumed that the call had been a hoax.

We have two mobiles, one with Optus and one with TransACT, but we didn’t get the SMS – if we had, the appalling spelling would definitely have screamed HOAX!

Later we got an SMS from our daughter in France, for krisesakes, saying “Big fire in chemical factory in Mitchell – stay indoors and keep windows and doors closed”.

I know the SMS technology is still under development so I can understand not getting the SMS. Nevertheless, I’d suggest:

– Repeating the landline message (not calling twice, just saying the message twice);
– If they advise calling Canberra Connect, make sure that there’s info available and that the number is provided as part of the message; and
– Making sure that the person writing the SMS has graduated from primary school.

If I’d had half a brain I would have logged on to RiotACT which, it seems, is Canberra’s most reliable news source. Well done, Johnboy and Rioters!

Thoroughly Smashed said :

I-filed said :

Any longterm effects from this chemical? I have a stinging in my throat (near Civic). Very concerned about a mini-Bhopal type attitude from the ACT Government authorities, with minimal communications. Where were the warnings on radio? I had my radio on from 5 am on RN.

The chemical plume’s nowhere near you.

Bhopal? Give me a f***ing break.

Yeah well, Bhopal maybe not but my other half and I both have ‘chemically’ nostrils, eyes and throats (kind of like too much chlorine in the pool). We live in Lyneham, I think maybe the car got a good coating of crap and we got it through the air vents. Pretty minor though.

Can I just say how this proves that the RA is good for purposes apart from recommending the best place for sticky rice and whinging about the Chronicle? Excellent place to find out about a worrying event.

I found about the whole thing at 9am, having slept right through. I love how the initial warnings extended as far as Lyneham. Presumably O’Connor will be fine despite being within 10km; obedient chemicals stopping at the edge of Wattle Street, having a coffee at Tilley’s.

Thoroughly Smashed said :

Thoroughly Smashed said :

The chemical plume’s nowhere near you.

Photos in another thread suggest this is wrong, my mistake.

Never mind that, one of them looked like Mt Ainslie but on second thought it probably isn’t.

akinky said :

i’m at the airport, behind mt majura which has been shrouded in smoke all morning. definite chemical tang in the air outside. bhopal it is.

Christ on a bendy bus. Bhopal officially killed 3,800 and estimates range to 30,000. Up to 200,000 confirmed long-term injuries.

Hope those massive Gas tanks about 50m are nice and secure….

Must have slept like logs as DH and I didn’t hear anything and didn’t know about it until the news this morning. Kids didn’t wake up either. We’re in Giralang. lol

I-filed said :

Where were the warnings on radio? I had my radio on from 5 am on RN.

ABC 666 is where it’s at. Very fine coverage.

Thoroughly Smashed said :

The chemical plume’s nowhere near you.

Photos in another thread suggest this is wrong, my mistake.

I-filed said :

Any longterm effects from this chemical? I have a stinging in my throat (near Civic). Very concerned about a mini-Bhopal type attitude from the ACT Government authorities, with minimal communications. Where were the warnings on radio? I had my radio on from 5 am on RN.

You do realise that the ‘national’ part of RN means its not going to be running local announcements? Had you turned on, for example, an ACT local station, you would have been bombarded with information

The explosions were very loud in Palmerston, windows rattling and the dog was going crazy poor thing.
Luckily no one was killed. Any information regarding how the fire started?

stingy1 said :

Just got a text, presumably from emergency services:

“The ACT Fire Brigade responding to chemical insadent (sic) in Mitchell. Resadents (sic) of Franklin, Crace, Harrison, Kaleen, Lyeham, Hackett stay indoors.”

I’ll take it, misspelling or not.

Think yourself lucky! Someone on the radio this morning was complaining that their neighbour only spoke Croatian, and didn’t under stand the text!

what_the said :

dundle said :

My 7am bus from Cook (COOK!) was apparently cancelled with no warning at all. Getting up that early I hadn’t heard about it and there were no visual indications, no text, yet ACTION saw fit to cancel the Cook to Civic service. I waited half an hour wondering why two more buses didn’t show up until a friend told me.

Yes how inconsiderate of that factory to explode and ruin your ride to work!! It deserves a stern talking to!! Are you serious, it’s on every TV channel!!

I don’t have time to watch TV leaving that early…it would have been understandable if I’d lived anywhere near it or received one of those texts. Seems pretty crazy to do it for a bus route so far away. I wasn’t the only person waiting who didn’t hear about it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7f5upKb9hHQ some footage (not taken by me)

ANU will remain open today! Thanks Professor Ian Young for the most informative email.

dundle said :

My 7am bus from Cook (COOK!) was apparently cancelled with no warning at all. Getting up that early I hadn’t heard about it and there were no visual indications, no text, yet ACTION saw fit to cancel the Cook to Civic service. I waited half an hour wondering why two more buses didn’t show up until a friend told me.

Yes how inconsiderate of that factory to explode and ruin your ride to work!! It deserves a stern talking to!! Are you serious, it’s on every TV channel!!

dtc said :

Well done to 666, especially Julian Abbott and one of their female reporters (Jessica ?? sorry, cant remember her name) who, it seems, were called into the studio very early morning and kept things going and updated constantly. Ross Solly as well – looks like some lessons learnt from the bushfires. Obviously the ESA and the police get all credit as well

And good on Ross for basically telling that bloke (defending the spelling mistakes in the text, calling people stupid if they were a bit suspicious) to pull his head in!

i’m at the airport, behind mt majura which has been shrouded in smoke all morning. definite chemical tang in the air outside. bhopal it is.

All public schools north of lake closed today.

My 7am bus from Cook (COOK!) was apparently cancelled with no warning at all. Getting up that early I hadn’t heard about it and there were no visual indications, no text, yet ACTION saw fit to cancel the Cook to Civic service. I waited half an hour wondering why two more buses didn’t show up until a friend told me.

hawker said :

As I got off the phone I heard an explosion and the building started to shake.

Good thing someone was looking out for you. I thought that the whole city was under siege (could be to do with watching the 1984 movie Red Dawn recently)

Anyway, in case no one has mentioned this…

According to WeatherZone.com.au the wind is currently blowing in the SE direction, and will be for most of the day, taking the smoke fume over Watson. This is going to change to South by 9pm, blowing the smoke over Downer and Dickson (unless they put it out).

Watson said :

I don’t know. I actually knew it was real because of the typos. It’s the trademark of the AFP!

Ok, not the AFP of course. But as long as the fire brigade knows how to put out a fire, I could not care less about their spelling!

fabforty said :

I also received this text, as well as one earlier telling me to evacuate. The spelling was so bad, though, that I initially took it as a prank. It wasn’t until I called police comms and heard/felt the explosions that I took it seriously. This is something they need to look at if they want these messages to be taken seriously in the event of a major disaster.

I don’t know. I actually knew it was real because of the typos. It’s the trademark of the AFP!

I-filed said :

Any longterm effects from this chemical? I have a stinging in my throat (near Civic). Very concerned about a mini-Bhopal type attitude from the ACT Government authorities, with minimal communications. Where were the warnings on radio? I had my radio on from 5 am on RN.

The chemical plume’s nowhere near you.

Bhopal? Give me a f***ing break.

I started work in Mitchell at 10.30pm, no sign of anything. I was working indoors on Essington st, at about 10 to 2, the work phone rang and our office manager asking if I was alright. Bit confused then I got the phone call to say get out. Started to shut up shop and call the boss and ACT police to confirm, after some confusion (the lady thought I just worked at Mitchell, not that I was there). She said get out. As I got off the phone I heard an explosion and the building started to shake.

Outside I could see the flames so I got in my car and got the hell out of there. Cop cars running around Mitchell, lots of confused people. I stopped on the federal highway near the BP and it was just getting bigger and bigger. Hopefully I don’t get docked for only working half a shift.

(Also all catholic schools north of the lake are closed. Why catholics I don’t know but there it is.)

Perhaps the landscape is too similar to hell?

All North side schools will be closed today. All nth side public transport is suspended.

Should I bring my animals indoors?

Any longterm effects from this chemical? I have a stinging in my throat (near Civic). Very concerned about a mini-Bhopal type attitude from the ACT Government authorities, with minimal communications. Where were the warnings on radio? I had my radio on from 5 am on RN.

Well done to 666, especially Julian Abbott and one of their female reporters (Jessica ?? sorry, cant remember her name) who, it seems, were called into the studio very early morning and kept things going and updated constantly. Ross Solly as well – looks like some lessons learnt from the bushfires. Obviously the ESA and the police get all credit as well

Ilovetheberra said :

Now all the sirens I heard after midnight make sense.

And full points to the emergency sms/landline warning system that alerted us @ 3:21am of:

‘ The Act Fire Brigade responding to chemical INSADENT in Mitchell. RESADENTS of Franklin, Crace, Harrison, Watson, Downer, Kaleen, Lyneham, Hackett stay indoors. ‘

I think it’s a great system and it certainly achieves its purpose.

At the risk of sounding finicky though, maybe they could do a basic spell-check before the alert goes out next time..

I also received this text, as well as one earlier telling me to evacuate. The spelling was so bad, though, that I initially took it as a prank. It wasn’t until I called police comms and heard/felt the explosions that I took it seriously. This is something they need to look at if they want these messages to be taken seriously in the event of a major disaster.

To repeat, though, for safety, in case this is the first news you see this morning, tune in to 666 am, to wait for answers.

(Also all catholic schools north of the lake are closed. Why catholics I don’t know but there it is.)

Have just heard that Brindabella Christian College in Lyneham will be closed. Waiting to see if Campbell High will be closed too.

The ABC website reports anyone within a 10km radius advised to stay indoors until further notice.

It’s fairly quiet outside, save for bird noises. (Wouldn’t mind a pet canary right now.)

Will probably turn out ok but something big is going down in Mitchell, steer the hell away from it especially north and north east of it.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2011-09-16/canberra-chemical-fire/2901598

http://www.esa.act.gov.au/ESAWebsite/content_esa/home_page/esa_home_page.html

There they have updates and apparently at about 7:30am they will update and perhaps reduce the 10km zone

Heard the explosions last night. Had no idea what they were, sounded close. We’re in Braddon, must have been freaking loud closer to Mitchell.

Was some explosion. Well, about 20 loud bans at least, over a period of about 20 minutes. Bit scary! I was so glad for the existence of Twitter and smart phones.

Then I found this text on my phone this morning, sent at 3.22am (this is letter for letter): “The ACT Fire Brigade responding to chemical insadent in Mitchell. Resadents of Franklin, Crace, Harrison, Watson, Downer, Kaleen, Lyneham, Hackett stay indoors”.

Now I have to go find out if I can send my child to school in Watson or not.

All ACTION busses on the northside of Canberra cancelled this morning.

What an outrage!! Reports say the smoke is blowing away from all closeby residential areas – so let’s prevent half of the city from getting to school and work!

Here is a video from my vantage point in Palmerston.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AAwiDrjbhKM

Early media reports suggest the factory had stores of “solid Sodium” – pouring water onto “solid sodium” would have been an “interesting experience” for our fire fighters.

3:27am Friday 16 September 2011 – Update five – Factory fire in Mitchell. Firefighters have been forced to retreat back from the fire following multiple explosions and large fire balls shooting 300m into the air and are now reassessing firefighting options. Fire still out of control…

Now all the sirens I heard after midnight make sense.

And full points to the emergency sms/landline warning system that alerted us @ 3:21am of:

‘ The Act Fire Brigade responding to chemical INSADENT in Mitchell. RESADENTS of Franklin, Crace, Harrison, Watson, Downer, Kaleen, Lyneham, Hackett stay indoors. ‘

I think it’s a great system and it certainly achieves its purpose.

At the risk of sounding finicky though, maybe they could do a basic spell-check before the alert goes out next time..

Sky is clear here now so looks like the winds have moved around to from the north.

I got awoken by the explosions from the fire and got a good vantage point from the back verandah. I also got the sms from the ACT Emergency Services with some seriously bad spelling. “Insadent” “Resadent”.

Hopefully no one was seriously injured.

Landline automated alerts now going out to everyone. Extended to Amaroo and Inner North too. Campers at EPIC evacuated. No explosions audible from Harrison for a while but have everything closed up tight.

3.22 am 16/9/2011 The SMS message received on my mobile is so full of spelling mistakes, my first thoughts were this is a fake.
Canberra Connect site:
“Current emergency status:
There are currently no emergencies in the ACT.”

http://www.emergencyinformation.act.gov.au/

You have to drill down to the “Community Alerts” to get the message to stay inside.

Looked out the window – yes there is a fire.

Just got a text, presumably from emergency services:

“The ACT Fire Brigade responding to chemical insadent (sic) in Mitchell. Resadents (sic) of Franklin, Crace, Harrison, Kaleen, Lyeham, Hackett stay indoors.”

I’ll take it, misspelling or not.

I’m thinking this won’t be posted until morning, but in case:

It is getting serious now (if it wasn’t already). The police have just sent an emergency SMS to every mobile phone in the area advising to stay indoors.

On Twitter a rather cryptically worded tweet advised that Dickson College has been “stood up” by the ACT Government and is the formal evacuation centre if Franklin residents are told to evacuate.

It’s all down to the wind I think. While the fire remains extremely hot, most of the smoke will go very high. But if it comes down, it will be time to get out.

I guess firefighters are standing by. All vehicles are at least 200m away from the warehouse. All roads are closed. My house is 500m away from there. Many by standards are around the area. Police at the roundabout describe the incident as “just a fire”. Some service people have put their mask on. One of my friend said the police told local residents to go home, close all the windows and turn the air con on. Smoke have moved to east into NSW.

I have leaved my house once I saw the fire through the window. First explosion heard around 2am.

It’s a huge fire.

The entire factory exploded bang on 2am. Explosions 100m into the sky (always when I had my phone on another screen!).

Police are extending their exclusion zone into southern Franklin and wearing face masks themselves. Expect Gungahlin Drive and Flemington Rd to be closed off for ages if not into the morning. There is no way they could control this – they’ll have to just wait for it to burn out.

They are also warning people to keep their houses closed off and A/C units off to avoid toxic fumes. It is Energy Services International: oil recycling plant, PCBs (!), batteries. Nasty…

Gungahlin residents would be wise to take William Slim or Federal Hwy for their commute today.

for further updates:
http://www.esa.act.gov.au/ESAWebsite/content_esa/home_page/esa_home_page.html

2:27am Friday 16 September 2011 – Update five – Factory fire in Mitchell Firefighters have been forced to retreat back from the fire following multiple explosions and are now reassessing firefighting options.
1:50am Friday 16 September 2011 – Update four – Factory fire in Mitchell – EMERGENCY ALERT issued The ACT Fire Brigade has issued an EMERGENCY ALERT about the presence of a potentially toxic smoke plume to the suburb of Mitchell between Flemington Road and Gungahlin Drive and the Barton Highway and Wells Station Drive.
1:14am Friday 16 September 2011 – Update three – Factory fire in Mitchell The ACT Fire Brigade has confirmed the fire is burning within an amount of mineral oil within the building.

Firefighters are now re-commencing firefighting operations using water and foam.

The ACT Fire Brigade has now ordered the evacuation of the whole suburb of Mitchell including a number of campers at Exhibition Park.

There is still a localised smoke plume but there is no threat to nearby residential suburbs of Harrison and Franklin.

Residents are advised to remain indoors.
12:42am Friday 16 September 2011 – Update two – Factory fire in Mitchell The building is located in the newer industrial estate of Mitchell off Hoskins Street.

Firefighters have been forced to move a few hundred metres back from the premises while working with the business operator to identify what substances are inside the building.

The business, Energy Service International (ESI), works with materials including oil from electricity transformers.

The fire has produced a thick smoke plume in the immediate area

Woke up in Watson to a series of explosions at 2am. They kept going over at least a half hour period.

Bloody frightening.

The 666 emergency broadcast at 2.30am saying ‘stay indoors’ wasn’t very reassuring. Where are you supposed to get good information? http://www.esa.act.gov.au/ESAWebsite/content_esa/home_page/esa_home_page.html isn’t reassuring either.

Further detail from the ESA: 2:27am Friday 16 September 2011 – Update five – Factory fire in Mitchell
Firefighters have been forced to retreat back from the fire following multiple explosions and are now reassessing firefighting options.
1:50am Friday 16 September 2011 – Update four – Factory fire in Mitchell – EMERGENCY ALERT issued
The ACT Fire Brigade has issued an EMERGENCY ALERT about the presence of a potentially toxic smoke plume to the suburb of Mitchell between Flemington Road and Gungahlin Drive and the Barton Highway and Wells Station Drive.

http://www.esa.act.gov.au/ESAWebsite/content_esa/home_page/esa_home_page.html

At 2AM the explosions from the fire are echoing off Mt Ainslie like thunder. They have started evacuating everyone + horses camped at EPIC now, too.

Just got woken up by a pretty big series of explosions at this fire, hope all the firefighters are OK.

I wonder if thats the kitchen joinery? No doubt a lot of timbers and chemicals in that factory waiting to go up in smoke.

Sounds like explosions at around 2am. Scary stuff.