Clean-up complete after massive chemical blaze

After an operation lasting more than a year and costing millions of dollars, the site of Melbourne’s biggest industrial fire in nearly a decade has now been cleaned up, EPA Victoria says.

In July 2024 a blaze broke out at the ACB Group’s chemical blending facility in Swann Drive, Derrimut and burned for six hours before firefighters could bring it under control, using around 3 million litres of water and 40,000 litres of foam in the process.

At the time of the fire, nearby residents were advised to remain indoors to avoid the smoke, and the blaze triggered an intense EPA program of air and water quality monitoring. Fortunately, risks of impact to human and environmental health were found to be low.

What was left were fire-damaged, unsafe buildings and thousands of burnt-out chemical drums, each of which had to be individually inspected before being removed.

EPA West Metropolitan regional manager Julia Gaitan said that as of late January 2026, there were no remaining environmental notices on the site.

“It was the biggest fire clean-up in the west since the Tottenham blaze of 2018,” Ms Gaitan said.

“Not only was environmental harm reduced by the controlled removal of the waste, it was done in a very timely way given the challenges faced.”

EPA was one of a suite of agencies that participated in the operation. WorkSafe, EPA, Energy Safe and Fire Rescue Victoria worked closely to ensure the health and safety of those directly involved in removing the waste.

“It’s a great example of regulators uniting and using the most appropriate tools to ensure waste was safely removed.”

EPA issued multiple improvement notices requiring waste to be assessed, removed and lawfully disposed of, as well stormwater to be contained to prevent contaminated runoff.

The watchdog also wanted to make sure the public wasn’t left footing the bill after ACB Group, the company that operated the site at the time of the fire, went into liquidation.

“EPA worked hard to ensure the liquidator and the landholder funded the clean-up,” Ms Gaitan said. “The clear message here is that organisations can’t evade their environmental obligations by going into liquidation.”

Ms Gaitan said it was pleasing the clean-up had been successful but reminded all Victorians of their duty to prevent harm to human health and the environment.

“As serious as this incident was, it could have been far worse,” Ms Gaitan said. “It’s a reminder that safety is paramount, especially for those working with hazardous materials.”

EPA and WorkSafe investigations of the incident are ongoing.