00:02Fire Rescue Victoria has confirmed that the fire at the Viva Energy oil refinery behind
00:07me here in Geelong has been extinguished. Fire crews spent their evening battling that
00:11out of control ferocious blaze that broke out about 11 o'clock last night. There were
00:1750 staff members inside the refinery at the time that were forced to evacuate. Thankfully
00:22there were no injuries. Now residents heard loud bangs and sounds coming from that refinery.
00:27That's because liquid hydrocarbons fuelled the fire and caused those loud bangs to occur
00:34after the fire broke out in the motor gasoline section of the refinery. There was a watch
00:38and act warning in place for residents to shut their doors, keep their windows closed. Thankfully
00:44that has also been downgraded. We heard from Fire Rescue Victoria's Deputy Commissioner.
00:49Here's what she had to share. It looks like a valve has given way and which has started
00:55a small leak which has increased due to the pressure of that LPG being stored which has
01:01given away obviously found an ignition source and ignited into a significant explosion.
01:07This is just one of two remaining oil refineries in the nation. It supplies 50% of Victoria's
01:13fuel and just over 10% across the nation. Now there's been conflicting reports today about
01:18the impact this will have. Energy Minister Chris Bowen says it will have an impact on production
01:23but long term it's still too early to say. Meanwhile Fire Rescue Victoria says that there
01:28won't be an impact to diesel and gasoline production but again their investigations continue. Here's what
01:34some locals in the area had to share about what their concerns are regarding fuel prices.
01:38My tank was half full last night so like I said I went off and filled up the car immediately
01:43because
01:43I said to the kids that you know who knows this might jump the price of fuel by 40 cents.
01:47I hope not.
01:47Please don't price gouge us anymore. Thanks.
01:49If it does in fact affect the prices well that's I think that'll only be a bloody scam anyway because
01:56after the other two we've had here and other problems we've had I've never seen the petrol price
02:03go up. Never. Firefighters are expected to remain at the scene into the evening as investigations
02:08into what caused this blaze continue and the impact on the wider community.
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