THE cause of a fire which destroyed a saw mill at Highland Pine in Oberon has yet to be established, with forensic police still at the scene late yesterday.
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Saw Mill Area One of the Albion Street factory was totally destroyed in the blaze which broke out at about 5am.
NSW Fire and Rescue were still extinguishing spot fires yesterday morning, and liaising with police in a bid to establish exactly what happened.
Inspector Kim Simpson from NSW Fire and Rescue said firies do not know how the fire began.
He said from a production point of view the mill was critical, and expected the fire would have a significant impact on the township of Oberon.
While the majority of the factory works around the clock, area one was not operational when the fire broke out.
Inspector Simpson said NSW Fire and Rescue responded to a triple-0 call for help which was made just after 5am. He said fire alarms in the mill sounded and then workers called the fire in.
“Oberon was first on the scene and was assisted by the Oberon RFS, but because of the size of the fire they were then joined by tankers from Bathurst, Kelso, Oberon and Lithgow and the RFS,” he said.
When fire crews arrived, Inspector Simpson said the fire was already coming through the roof and the building was totally alight.
“It took fire crews about an hour to bring the fire under control,” he said, adding spot fires were still burning two hours later.
Inspector Simpson said 1500 square metres of factory was destroyed.
“It was a big open building and the fire spread quickly.
“The boys did a great job. The area was surrounded by oil, hydraulic fluids, acetone and LPG cylinders which potentially could have been catastrophic,” he said.
Inspector Simpson said a full investigation would be held.
Chifley local area command duty officer Inspector Colin Cracknell said police dispatched crews just after 5am and controlled traffic at the site until fire crews deemed it was safe for investigators to enter.
He said detectives were on site undertaking preliminary enquiries, and police were working towards preparing a report for the coroner because of the cost of the damage.
Inspector Cracknell said forensic police will work with NSW Fire and Rescue to establish the point of origin and cause of the fire.
“As this stage it will be treated as suspicious, not because anything indicates it is, but so we can rule it out and not lose any evidence,” he said.
