An industrial building in Mitchell was engulfed in smoke on Saturday morning after a fire broke out just before 11am, with crews called to Darling Street and paramedics sent as a precaution. There were no reports of injuries.
Fire and Rescue crews were dispatched on Saturday, May 23, after the blaze was believed to have been sparked by an electric vehicle charger. An emergency services spokesperson said the fire was thought to have started at an electric vehicle charging port.
Firefighters extinguished the blaze, but the response did not end there. Crews were still cooling the affected battery after the fire, a sign of how quickly a routine industrial incident can turn into a job with its own hazards.
The Mitchell fire adds to the practical challenge facing emergency crews as electric vehicle infrastructure becomes more common in workplaces and commercial buildings. In this case, the suspected source of the fire was an EV charging port inside an industrial site, and the scene remained active after the flames were out because the battery still needed to be brought under control.
For the people inside and around the building, the main fact was the simplest one: the fire was contained and no one was hurt. For firefighters, the work was only partly finished once the smoke cleared.
