Parkes residents awoke on Thursday morning to a large plume of smoke stemming from the west end of town.
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The black, dense smoke strewn across the sky was discovered rising from a fire that had ignited at the Parkes Waste Facility on Brolgan Road.
A Parkes Rural Fire Service volunteer initially discovered the blaze on Wednesday afternoon while on his way to conduct a control burn.
Emergency services were officially notified of the fire at 5.08pm.
Three RFS tankers with 17 firefighters arrived at the site shortly after, where – along with Parkes Shire Council staff – they managed to contain the fire to the site’s main waste cell and have it under control promptly.
NSW Rural Fire Service Mid Lachlan Valley Team Superintendent Ken Neville said volunteers attended to the blaze over two to three hours on Wednesday before handing the control to council.
“We handed it back to council when it was made safe,” Mr Neville said.
Fire and emergency services are still monitoring the situation today, while council staff and contractors remain on the scene.
The fire was smothered with cover material using excavators and heavy plant.
Council will continue to monitor the situation closely to ensure it does not reignite.
In a notice issued by council this morning, it's believed the fire self-started in the main waste cell.
“We assume that the cause of the fire was spontaneous combustion,” council's planning and environment director Steven Campbell said.
“It was in an area of the main waste cell which contained a quantity of mattresses and other general waste.”
The facility will be closed until further notice.
