Firefighters are battling a huge blaze at a waste recycling centre in Sydney's west that has sent a plume of thick black smoke across the city's skyline.
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The fire broke out at the SUEZ Chullora Resource Recovery Park, on Muir Road in Chullora, just before 9.30am on Thursday, and quickly engulfed one of the large buildings on the site.
More than 100 firefighters from 20 fire stations across Sydney are battling the blaze. A section of the building's roof collapsed just before 10.30am.
Everyone at the centre has been evacuated and accounted for, firefighters said.
The building, measuring 120 by 70 metres, contained highly flammable materials including carpet, plastic, cardboard and paper, Fire and Rescue NSW Superintendent Ian Krimmer said.
"This is producing enormous amounts of thick black smoke that can be seen right across Sydney," he said.
"We are monitoring that smoke plume constantly. We've established some air-monitoring devices around the site and they will give us any alarm should there be any toxicity to the affected area. At this stage that smoke is going high up into the atmosphere where it's dissipating safely."
The plume of smoke was so big it could be seen from as far away as Vaucluse and Watsons Bay in Sydney's east, more than 25 kilometres away.
John Hassett, the NSW state general manager at SUEZ, confirmed that all the company's employees had been accounted for and no one was injured.
"We appreciate the very swift response and ongoing work from emergency services and we will continue to work with them and conduct a full investigation," he said.
A number of factories surrounding the waste recycling centre were initially evacuated due to fears the fire could spread.
Just before 11am, firefighters had contained the blaze to the waste recycling centre, but it was still burning out of control and was expected to continue burning for several hours at least.
Superintendent Krimmer said firefighters could not enter the structure because it had partially collapsed and was unstable.
Firefighters were attacking the blaze from both sides of the building. They were also cooling down a number of large gas cylinders that could be seen at the back of the waste management centre.
The cause of the fire was not known.
A NSW Ambulance spokesman said paramedics were on standby on Muir Road although they had not treated any patients.
The NSW Environment Protection Authority said it was aware of the blaze and had sent officers to the site.
Something massive is on fire is south west Sydney pic.twitter.com/Xn3nhph1v3— Mr Tiedt to you (@mrtiedt) February 22, 2017
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