Factory fire at three Adelaide industrial sites could leave multi-million dollar damage bill

Dozens of firefighters have extinguished a major blaze that was burning across several industrial sites in Adelaide’s south, sending thick smoke over the surrounding area.

Emergency services were called to Edwardstown about 5:50pm, and arrived to find fire across three sites, including a powder coating company and engineering business Attard Engineering.

The Metropolitan Fire Service (MFS) said about 60 firefighters attended the scene on Dunorlan Road, near South Road, and extinguished the flames in just under two hours.

“It took about 45 minutes to get the blaze under control and another hour to have [the] total fire out,” MFS commander Grant Senior said.

The cause of the fire remains undetermined, but the damage bill is, according to an early estimate, likely to be in the millions of dollars.

“It’s probably about — just a guess — $5 million worth of damage,” Mr Senior said.

“For me it’s been one of the bigger ones.

“The firefighters fought very had to contain the fire to the premises that were already on fire when we got here.”

The fire caused thick smoke, which was visible from several kilometres away, to drift across Edwardstown and surrounding suburbs.

Residents were advised to close all windows and doors during the incident, and firefighters were confronted with highly flammable materials.

“The flames were high, we also were advised there was LPG in the premises, also acetylene,” Mr Senior said.

He said there were no reported injuries but business owners had been left “very distressed and concerned” by the blaze.

It is unknown in which business the fire started but fire cause investigators will attend for a fuller assessment of the damage and to work out the cause.