CFS News
On Sunday the 6th of September firefighters were responded to a fire at the Almond Co packing facility at Pike River, near Renmark in the Riverland. Not only were a semi-trailer and a loader destroyed by fire, crews also found the very large almond husk piles alight. Due to the size and nature of the fire, local Riverland CFS crews were unable to extinguish using normal rural tactics. The almond husk piles where extremely large and fire was burning deep inside the mounds.
On Tuesday morning, the Sturt bulk water carrier (BWC) based at Cherry Gardens station with its Compressed Air and Foam System (CAFS) capability was responded to support local crews. It assisted with protecting the remaining packaging facility and the extinguishment of the burning husk piles. Later the same day the remaining CAFS appliances in the CFS fleet from Eden Hills, Tea Tree Gully, and Blackwood were also requested to attend. Multiple crews were deployed from these brigades, including ours from Cherry Gardens who crew the Sturt BWC, and were on scene assisting local firefighters from first deployment on Tuesday the 8th of September through to Monday the 14th.
All CFS and MFS firefighters and heavy machinery operators worked well to minimise damage to the Almond Co facility and bring the fire under control.
We are proud of the efforts of our brigade’s firefighters for giving up their time to deploy for multiple days to assist with this large-scale commercial fire. Pictured is the BWC assisting with the extinguishing of this fire.
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