By Michael Newhouse
A LONG, hot and dry summer has turned the dilapidated North Sunshine industrial estate into a headache for police and a haven for would-be firebugs.
At least two large suspicious fires burnt through the estate in recent weeks.
But firefighters are hoping that Brimbank City Council’s long-awaited plan to clean up the area will stem the number of blazes and make it easier for fire crews to combat fires.
Council last week approved a plan that would finally allow work to begin on stage 1 of the development, which would put sealed roads and water pipes in the area north of Whitehill Rd between the Sydney – Melbourne railway line, McIntyre Rd and the Western Ring Rd.
Harvester Ward councillor Sam David described the estate at last Tuesday’s council meeting as “the little Hiroshima”, saying that it was one of Brimbank’s worst areas.
The area was originally subdivided and zoned as a residential area in the 1960s but was later rezoned as an industrial estate and much of it remains without running water.
These days it houses abandoned warehouses and is a popular spot for illegal rubbish dumping which, when combined with the long, unattended grass, makes the area a major fire hazard, according to firefighters and police.
“We’ve certainly had quite a lot of fires down there and I think that some of them the police have determined have been suspicious,” Metropolitan Fire Brigade operations commander David Youssef said last week.
“The illegal dumping of rubbish down there is a major concern to the fire brigade,” he said.
Detective Senior Constable Ray Martland from the Sunshine Criminal Investigations Unit said the spot was a favourite with arsonists, who he said could access the area via the train tracks and slip away quickly and easily.
“It’s not so much the damage they’re doing to the property, because a lot of the property is of very little value but it’s the resources that it takes, and the cost of those resources,” Det Sen Const Martland said.
Two weeks ago, a fire police are treating as suspicious burnt out 20 hectares of grassland from Balfour Ave all the way down to Bunnett St, and a week earlier arsonists set alight an abandoned car yard in Bunnett St, which destroyed around 20 vehicles.
In its report detailing the new North Sunshine Industrial Estate guidelines, council says the estate has a “history of unauthorised use, non-compliance with conditions of planning permits, low levels of amenity, poor access and a lack of services.”.
Police again put a call out for anyone with information regarding suspicious fires in the North Sunshine area to contact Sunshine Police station on 9313 3333.
