D.A. & N.J. Mortimer fuel tankers burnt in the blaze at a shed storing hundreds of LPG cylinders
Eight trucks were destroyed during a massive fire that engulfed a storage shed in a regional Victorian town early this morning.
LPG cylinders stored in the shed behind D.A. & N.J. Mortimer Petroleum fuel station at Drysdale, a rural town less than 25km from the Geelong city centre, were exploding when firefighters arrived at the scene before 1am.
It took Country Fire Authority (CFA) and Metropolitan Fire Brigade (MFB) teams four hours to bring the fire under control.
No one was hurt, however, fuel tankers and hundreds of LPG cylinders at the site have been destroyed during the blaze.
The family-run business, D.A. & N.J. Mortimer, lost eight trucks, including seven fuel tankers in the fire.
“They tell me I’ve lost all my trucks… so that’s a few hundred thousand dollars,” David Mortimer (pictured below), one of the owners of the business, told TV news crew today.
Up to 35 homes were evacuated as the LPG cylinders starting blowing up in all directions, causing havoc in the area.
CFA operations manager Wayne Aylmer says the storage shed on High Street, was well alight on arrival.
“The shed was approximately 20 x 50m and used to store LPG cylinders,” Aylmer says.
“Eight trucks including seven fuel tankers were destroyed as well hundreds of LPG cylinders.
“There have been some significant losses on site but thankfully no one has been injured.
“Thirty-five properties were evacuated and 50 residents were re-located to a local evacuation centre.
“It is still an exclusion zone. MFB will be using their drone to check for cylinders around the area and SES will conducting an impact assessment and checking homes.”
Firefighters will remain stationed at the site for the rest of day as investigators look into the cause of the fire.
“The cause of the fire is unknown at this stage but we will be conducting an investigation sometime today,” Aylmer says.