Firefighters have finally extinguished the huge fire that began at the Lindsay Transport depot in Bundaberg, Queensland, late yesterday.
A number of gas bottles were reportedly involved in the blaze.
Paramedics treated three firefighters for smoke inhalation before they returned to work. There are no reports of any injuries to truckies, depot staff, or members of the public.
Police made an emergency declaration under the Public Safety Preservation Act around 4:30pm, on Thursday, March 23, evacuating residents between Sauers Road, Presslers Road, Bargara Road and Gahans Road.
An exclusion zone in place due to toxic smoke was reduced to just Zielke Avenue around 10pm, with the boundaries to be revised Friday morning.
“That’s scary,” said witness Haydie-May Bird as she watched the event unfold from her nearby property.
“So we were both inside and all of a sudden we hear this loud explosion.
“And at first we thought that one of the pumps under the house had exploded, so we go outside and we can‘t see anything.
“All of a sudden we see just a copious amount of smoke and just a tonne of loud explosions started to happen.
“We raced down to the driveway and all we see is just the depot on fire.”
Lindsay Transport has been approached for comment.