Residents impacted by a toxic waste factory blaze which blanketed homes and businesses in Melbourne's north have aired concerns with fire authorities over the emergency.
A second community meeting about the fire at Bradbury Industrial Services Pty Ltd in Campbellfield was held on Sunday morning in nearby Broadmeadows.
Firefighters responding to the fire on Friday. Source: AAP
MFB Deputy Chief Officer David Bruce told those gathered that authorities did a lot of work early to try to mitigate the risks to the community, with efforts still ongoing.
"It is not the kind of call you want to get before seven o'clock in the morning when we were aware of the premises," he told the meeting.
"Government agencies had been working with them (the firm), we worked quickly and we are aware of the site and we put plans in place to minimise the exposure not only to the community but also to those first-responders."
It comes as firefighters remain at the scene on Sunday still trying to fully extinguish the fire by Monday while monitoring hotspots at the site, he added.
A worker injured in Melbourne's toxic waste factory blaze is recovering in hospital as firefighters continue to extinguish hotspots.
Vignesh Varatharaja is in a serious but stable condition on Saturday after the chemical drum he was pumping at a Campbellfield factory a day earlier exploded and started burning, setting his body on fire.
His co-worker unsuccessfully tried to stop the fire using a broken fire hose, The Australian Workers Union (AWU) says.
Metropolitan Fire Brigade (MFB) crews are using heavy machinery to pull apart remaining materials and get to hot spots still smouldering.
The Migrants Workers Centre has raised more than $15,000 to help meet upfront costs associated with Mr Varatharaja's recovery.
Mr Varatharaja is a refugee who came to Australia in 2013 after the Sri Lankan civil war.
'Something has to be done'
Fire authorities will work with the police arson squad to determine the cause of the fire on Thornycroft Street as part of the coronial investigation, a fire spokeswoman told AAP.
Maureen McCormick told the meeting she'd been forced to leave her home due to the fire and wanted tighter monitoring of waste-storage facilities to prevent this happening.
"These places are opening up everywhere ... something has to be done. It needs to be stopped now. We have had it up to our ears," she said, according to The Age.
Residents also reportedly called for more air-quality sensors in the western suburbs.
The factory's licence was suspended on March 20 by the state's environmental watchdog after an inspection found liquid waste exceeded the amount permitted under its licence.
The factory was banned from accepting additional waste until it had processed enough of its existing waste, the Environmental Protection Authority said.
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