Response and recovery after fire at Thomas Foods International
The EPA joined the South Australian Government taskforce in January for the response and recovery efforts following a significant fire at one of the state’s largest processing plants.
Fire severely damaged the Thomas Foods International’s abattoir site at Murray Bridge, with a collective and intensive effort from the South Australian government, TFI and community to work through the complexities and logistics of the incident to ensure safety at the site and the company’s continued operations.
As the environmental regulator, the EPA worked to ensure all measures were taken to prevent environmental harm with the EPA’s priority to provide an urgent response to the incident.
EPA Chief Executive Tony Circelli said the quick response and action prevented damage to waterways.
“The EPA and DEWNR (River Murray Operations and ecologists), local residents and a local earthmoving company took swift action following the incident at Thomas Foods International to protect waterways including the River Murray and the Rocky Gully wetland. This action also meant that they were able to safeguard two nationally protected species of fish in the wetland,” he said.
“Testing on site in the days after the fire in the waterways showed normal water quality conditions and no signs of adverse impacts,” he said.
The testing included ecological assessment of the drain adjacent to the Thomas Foods International abattoir, which feeds directly into the Rocky Gully Wetland then to the River Murray.
“This is a longer-term process and the EPA is working with other agencies and TFI on effective water management of the water canals on the TFI Murray Bridge premises to minimise any potential environmental harm in the future,” Mr Circelli said.
The EPA has also continued to work with TFI on the appropriate transport and removal of animal carcasses destroyed or spoiled by the fire as well as inspected the landfill to make sure that the disposal complied with the licence conditions to reduce any nuisance issues such as odour.
All trucks involved in the disposal of the carcasses were required to be rinsed at the landfill after delivery before returning to the TFI site to reduce odour in the area.
The EPA and other agencies are continuing to proactively work with TFI to identify how the local water and sewer network can best support a planned increase in processing at Lobethal, while limiting impacts on the environment and community.
