Tyre fire suspicious
The Unconformity cancelled over virus risk on opening day
A TYRE fire that broke out in a 500m deep gully at the Mount Lyell Mine is being treated as suspicious, according to Copper Mines Tasmania.
Firefighters were called to the scene just after 12.30am on Friday, arriving to find hundreds of tyres on fire in a gully of the mine.
The Tasmania Fire Service said the gully was difficult to access and would need to “selfextinguish” – something expected to take several days.
A TYRE fire which broke out in a 500m deep gully at the Mount Lyell Mine late into the night on Thursday is being treated as suspicious, according to Copper Mines Tasmania.
Firefighters were called to the scene just after 12.30am on Friday, arriving to find hundreds of tyres on fire in a gully of the mine.
The Tasmania Fire Service said the gully was difficult to access and would need to “self-extinguish” – something expected to take several days.
The cause of the blaze was unable to be determined because of the difficulty accessing the scene, but Copper Mines Tasmania acting general manager Clint Mayes said it was being treated as suspicious.
Mr Mayes estimated there were 1000 large truck and loader tyres along with 500 light vehicle tyres stored in the gully at the Royal Tharsis mine site, which ceased operation in the 1970s.
The abandoned site is located a kilometre away from CMT’s working mine, which is on the market.
Mr Mayes said the blaze had not affected any mine infrastructure and was not expected to affect its future operations or the potential sale of the mine.
“The Tasmania Fire Service has done a fantastic job to knock down the blaze and stop the fire spreading but, unfortunately, it is likely to smoulder for some days,” Mr Mayes said.
A smoke alert was put in place advising people to stay indoors, keep windows and doors closed and wear masks outside in case the wind changed direction and smoke was pushed towards the town.
The Environmental Protection Authority was notified of the blaze and the incident was handed to management of the Mt Lyell Mine and the West Coast Council.
Australian Tyre Recyclers Association executive officer Robert Kelman slammed the storage of tyres at the site, saying it was a stark reminder of why tyres should not be allowed to be stored or buried on site.
“Used tyres are permitted in Tasmania and the rest of the country to be left on site under state laws, while the rest of us rightly pay for our own used tyres to be recycled,” Mr Kelman said.
“These tyres last in the environment for thousands of years, or worse they catch fire endangering human health and the environment due to the toxicity of the smoke.”
Mr Kelman said action was needed.
“All state governments should be banning this material from being dumped on site immediately,” he said. judy.augustine@news.com.au
HIGHLY anticipated festival The Unconformity has been cancelled on day one of the event, after a snap lockdown was announced for the south of the state.
Festival director Travis Tiddy said it was devastating, especially after the pandemic forced the cancellation of the event last year.
“This festival’s been three years in the making,” Mr Tiddy said.
“To get right on the doorstep of delivering and have it yanked from under our feet is devastating.
“In the end we needed to make the decision.”
The West Coast is not required to go into lockdown, but Mr Tiddy said travellers presented a risk to the community.
“Thousands of people have
been making the way to the West Coast from Hobart,” he said.
“Those people would have been integrating with the whole of the Queenstown community.
“That presented a significant
risk exposure for the people who live here.”
It was expected the event would attract more than 3000 people to the West Coast and inject $600,000 into the local economy.
A decision is yet to be made on whether the event will be rescheduled.
“Our next action will be to connect with our artists and community and help determine what comes next, but that’ll take time,” Mr Tiddy said.
“Festivals operate in such a high-risk environment right now.
“It not only takes incredibly good planning but also a huge amount of luck to put them on, and that hasn’t fallen our way this year.”
West Coast Mayor Shane Pitt, who is also on the board
To get right on the doorstep of delivering and have it yanked from under our feet is devastating Festival director Travis Tiddy
of the festival, said organisers would discuss the way forward.
“She was all ready to go, the first band was about to start playing and they were called off, that’s how close we were to getting the event under way,” Mr Pitt said.
He said the risk to the community was too great.
“Health services around here wouldn’t be able to handle the amount of possible cases,” Mr Pitt said. “If there was a case it would be a huge issue for the West Coast.”
He said the effects of the cancellation would be felt across the West Coast.
“It’s going to be a huge impact to the local community, to food businesses who have obviously geared up for the weekend with extra stock,” Mr Pitt said.
“It’s going to be a big loss for those businesses, that’s for sure.”
The mayor said times had been tough on the West Coast.
“It hasn’t been a good year for the West Coast for tourists – it hasn’t been like it’s been in the past,” he said.
“We’re hoping we may be able to get the state government to assist in some way.
“We’d love travel vouchers for the West Coast to help businesses affected by the cancellation.”