SYDNEY: A large fire erupted on Thursday at a waste recycling centre in Australia's Sydney city, firefighters have said.
The SUEZ Chullora Resource Recovery Park is a large recycling facility that handles some hazardous and highly flammable materials.
"There are some LP gas cylinders that we are currently cooling down and we have large volumes of paper, carpet and cardboard engulfed in fire," Sydney Fire and Rescue superintendent, media officer Ian Krimmer told Xinhua news agency.
"It measures 120 by 70 metres, the contents of the factory are totally engulfed in fire."
Around 100 firefighters established a perimeter around the blaze in the suburb of Chullora, evacuating all local residents from their homes and workers from neighbouring businesses.
"There have been no injuries reported and all the workers of the factory have been accounted for," Krimmer said.
"It's still burning fiercely, but we don't anticipate it will spread beyond the factory."
The force of the blaze made responder's work more difficult. In less than one hour, most of the roof had collapsed "prevented us from going into the factory," he said.
Observable from almost every vantage point in the city, the massive cloud of smoke shocked those in the vicinity of the fire.
The cause of the blaze remains unknown.
