Car fire at Heddon Greta

Published: 10th September 2007

This afternoon firefighters from Kurri Kurri, Weston and Maitland responded to a car fire at Ashton Drive in Heddon Greta. Fire crews arrived to find a van ablaze and quickly used a fire hose to start extinguishing the fire. After talking with the driver firefighters were made aware of oxy-acetylene cylinders inside the van. A 200 metre exclusion zone was established and approximately 200 residents and bystanders were evacuated from within the zone as a safety precaution. The cylinders were cooled with water and firefighters used a thermal imaging camera to check on their temperature. When the cylinders were cool fire crews were able to confirm that they had vented during the fire. The cylinders were then placed in a hazmat drum full of water and secured on the building site for 24 hours.