Firefighters have brought a blaze at an abandoned waste site in Somerton under control, six days after it was sparked by lightning.
A spokesman from Emergency Management Victoria said the main fire had been extinguished but there were still a number of hotspots in timber piles.
He said the fire was brought under control at 7am last Thursday.
The fire broke out during an electrical storm on November 20. Country Fire Authority and Metropolitan Fire Brigade crews were called to the scene at Patullos Lane, near the Hume Freeway, at 2.30am.
The fire shut Hume Highway between Somerton Road and Patullos Lane for several hours. The cost of removing waste from the land is estimated to be up to $4 million.
The site had been used by Eugene Skliar and Christopher Smith, of Ecotec Woodwaste, before Hume council ordered them to cease operations in January.
The business’s activities have been the subject of three Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal hearings since January and the business is before the Broadmeadows Magistrates Court.
On Monday last week, EPA chief executive Nial Finegan said a bench warrant had been issued for Mr Skliar’s arrest after he failed to attend court that day.
