Cause of inferno at Nutrien fertiliser storage facility still ‘undetermined’

Authorities have yet to determine the cause of a blaze that ripped through Nutrien Ag Solutions’ fertiliser storage facility at Kwinana Beach and triggered a HAZMAT warning across several suburbs in Perth’s south last Friday. It is believed the Port Road facility went up in flames about 1.25pm on February 9 after a conveyer belt system caught fire as temperatures soared to 42C. More than 50 firefighters and 13 fire trucks responded to the blaze, which caused a massive plume of black smoke to blanket the industrial area off Port Road, near the Kwinana Bulk Jetty. It triggered a HAZMAT warning over several neighbouring areas, including Medina, Orelia, Parmelia, Bertram, Kwinana Beach, Wellard, Leda, Kwinana town centre, as well as East Rockingham about 2.20pm. By Saturday afternoon the Department of Fire and Emergency Services had removed the warning, advising the fire had been extinguished and the toxic smoke cleared. Incident controller Ray Buchan said fire crews had to battle 2-3m flames to bring the fire under control but the bigger issue was the smoke. “There’s a significant amount of sulphur in there,” Mr Buchan said. “The only way to get in there was through the smoke, so they had to be careful.” DFES superintendent David Gill told reporters on Saturday the toxic smoke in the atmosphere had cleared by about 4am. “Sulphur was one of the products that was burning and as well as sulphur, there were some nutrient products, things like general fertilisers,” he said. “We’re very conscious that we make sure that we’re monitoring the atmosphere to make sure that the atmosphere that firefighters are working is safe, as well as the appropriate use of PPE such as breathing apparatus.” A conveyor belt, believed to be where the blaze started, was significantly damaged, but it’s understood the structure of the warehouse remains intact. A DFES spokeswoman said the fire also “impacted” two industrial storage sheds but the full extent of the damage was not yet clear when Countryman went to print on Tuesday. She said the cause of the fire was under investigation but remained undetermined. Nutrien Ag Solutions confirmed 11 people onsite at the time were safely evacuated after reports of smoke. “At this stage we are unsure how the fire started or the ignition point,” a Nutrien Ag Solutions spokeswoman said. “We will assess the potential damage to our site and any ongoing impact to our operations once we can gain safe access to the site.” Nutrien Ag Solutions opened its mega fertiliser storage facility at Coogee Chemicals’ Kwinana site just over two years ago in a bid to shore up supply for WA grain growers. The 50,000-tonne liquid fertiliser storage facility includes two 25,000-tonne tanks at the Coogee Chemicals’ headquarters on Kwinana Beach Road. This latest inferno comes just nine months after another major blaze across the road at neighbouring CSBP Fertilisers. That blaze was ignited in a large, empty tank on a shed that was being decommissioned by CSBP, likely during some “hot works”. It also caused “potentially dangerous smoke” to blow towards the coast but was contained after dozens of firefighters fought the flames for more than an hour. CSBP workers were on Friday evacuated to a muster point and no site operations were impacted, the company confirmed. CSBP fertilisers general manager Ryan Lamp said CSBP had offered assistance to the various organisations whose operations were impacted by the fire. “Currently, we are focusing on meeting the seeding and autumn pasture requirements of our customers with supply of granular and liquid fertilisers,” he said. “We have product available to contract, and are keen to reassure growers who have provided a forecast to CSBP that, subject to prompt commitment and collection, CSBP will be able to meet their requirements.”