FIRE CREWS were stretched to the limit on Thursday afternoon when they got the call that a huge fire had started at the CMA Recycling Plant in Pakenham South.
The call came through about 4pm, less than an hour after crews from as far as Wonthaggi to the Mornington Peninsula raced to the scene of grass fires approaching houses on Reynolds, Pakenham and Army roads.
CFA District 8 operations manager Trevor Owen said that five fire-fighters came down with heat fatigue and there was one serious injury to report.
“A hose that burst was feeding the aerial appliance and caused a serious injury to a fire-fighter who is still in hospital,” he said.
Mr Owen said the fire was “significant” and burnt roughly half of the pile of 200 recycled cars which involved in a lot of rubber plastics and combustible material.
The fire at the plant is thought to have started from a spark when workers were moving a vehicle from a pile of scrap cars.
Police believe there was fuel in the car at the time which caused the explosion which took three to four hours to control.
CFA crews were on the scene overnight, and some spent 10 hours monitoring the fire.
There were 25 CFA crews in attendance and a helicopter to bring the fire under control.
