Waste fire, Swanbank

Issued: 23 Jan 2024

Compliance officers from the Department of Environment, Science and Innovation (DESI) are investigating the cause of a fire at the Nugrow composting facility in the early hours of yesterday morning (22 January 2024).

About 7am, DESI received a report from a member of the community of a fire in the Swanbank area overnight.

Following preliminary enquiries, Nugrow confirmed that a small fire had occurred in a stockpile on its site which it extinguished without requiring assistance from Queensland Fire and Emergency Services.

Compliance officers carried out an initial site inspection yesterday to monitor the company’s actions to extinguish the fire, and to ensure the operator is taking appropriate step to manage any environmental risks as quickly as possible.

DESI will further investigate the cause of the fire and the operator’s response to determine if there have been any contraventions of the Environmental Protection Act 1994 and will consider enforcement action if any non-compliance is identified.

The department maintains a 24-hour statewide pollution hotline and is monitoring the odour situation in the Swanbank area.

To report pollution incidents to the Queensland Government, you can call the 24/7 Pollution Hotline on 1300 130 372.

Alternatively, you can email pollutionhotline@des.qld.gov.au