Residents angry over toxic fires in Melbourne's western suburbs

“We just feel like it's like this all the time,” she said. “We're constantly in danger. The government and the authorities just don't seem to care much about our safety.”

Hartland said residents often do not know where chemical storage facilities are located because there is a lack of transparency in planning.

“It’s the western suburbs, and we don’t count them,” she said.

“We are still seen as worthless by the authorities and the government. So they say, 'OK, throw all this toxic industry out of here.'”

“You'll never find anything like this in Kew, Hawthorn or Portsea. It's just never going to happen.”

Non-profit legal organisation Environmental Justice Australia has written to the EPA and state Environment Minister Steve Dimopoulos, claiming the regulator has failed to take proactive steps to prevent harm to human health and the environment and has instead relied on cleaning up pollution after fires.

“It is a scandal that large-scale and catastrophic fires and environmental pollution continue to occur.
regularly, if not routinely, in Melbourne’s western suburbs,” says the letter, which was sent by The age, conditions.

“Given that two industrial fires have broken out within 10 days and, crucially, one of those facilities has been the subject of EPA compliance and enforcement actions, it is clear that the laws are not working as intended.”

Shaw said when fires broke out at Kinnears' factory, she didn't know what to do or if she needed to evacuate.

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She said there has been little information since the fires.

“I just spent $500,000 on this equipment, so I was filled with fear. It was a really, really big fire.”

Gavin Marshall, a firefighter for 13 years who lives in the western suburbs, worries about his family's health when chemical fires occur.

“We have many resource problems in [Fire Rescue Victoria]and our ability to respond to these fires and effectively extinguish them in the early stages is severely limited,” he said.

“It is concerning to me as a firefighter that these incidents continue and we simply do not have the resources to do our jobs effectively.”

In July The age reported that equipment failures and a lack of equipment had hampered the fight against the fire in Derrimut, while the firefighters' union was embroiled in a lengthy dispute with the state government over resources.

An EPA spokesman said it had the strongest powers it had ever had and the “exact situation” surrounding the Derrimut and Deer Park fires was still being investigated.

“Focusing on prevention is the right approach. It gives EPA the ability to hold polluters accountable and take action to make polluters bear the costs of any cleanup,” he said.

“Keeping the public informed is our highest priority.”

A state government spokesman said the EPA responded immediately to assist firefighters at both sites and set up air and water quality monitoring to inform local communities of potential hazards.

“They are now working with WorkSafe Victoria and Fire Services Victoria to investigate the fire and will take action if environmental laws have been breached,” he said.

“We have strengthened EPA’s powers to identify and prosecute polluters – our strong environmental protection laws apply across the state and are being enforced with the utmost urgency.

“The EPA's focus is on prevention. It tries to prevent incidents before harm is done and to ensure that industry operates to the highest environmental standards.”