The chemical company at the centre of two industrial fires in melbourne‘s west, including one that left a worker dead, has collapsed owing creditors more than $5.3 million.
Reports from liquidator SV Partners into the failed ACB Group suggest the site of its factory remains an ongoing fire hazard, stating the EPA advised it posed “significant risk to human health and the environment”.
The first fire at the Derrimut site in 2023 killed a 44-year-old factory worker, while the second in July last year destroyed the company’s factory, sending a cloud of toxic smoke into the air and forcing residents in nearby suburbs inside for days.
Liquidator’s reports also reveal the suspected causes of the two fires, and a previously unreported threat to a high-pressure underground gas pipeline running along the rear of the factory site, which an eight-metre concrete wall collapsed onto.
The smoke from last year’s fire could be seen across Melbourne. (ABC News: Rachel Clayton)
“The EPA [Environment Protection Authority] has noted that should a further fire occur, hazardous substances could be released into the air impacting local communities,” the report reads.
“Further, the EPA has noted that potential contaminated firewater runoff could flow…
