‘‘We took steps within days to suspend the licence. That licence suspension did enable the ongoing processing of material to occur at this site and that’s about reducing risk." He said the licence was suspended after the EPA found more than 400,000 litres of chemicals at the property in March. The licence limit is 150,000 litres. Loading Replay Replay video Play video Play video During an inspection the day before the fire, there was still about 300,000 litres. ‘‘We are talking about significant risk in terms of solvents, inks and so forth. EPA licences govern facilities where there is inherent dangers. That’s why holding a licence is a privilege.’’

Loading ‘‘These are highly flammable materials and I guess in terms of moving them it’s quite a significant operation. It’s not for the EPA to get in and move those materials. It’s up to that licence holder to deal with those materials appropriately.’’ The licence suspension meant the operator was no longer able to receive material, so ‘‘in effect it closes that business’s doors’’, he said. ‘‘We did an inspection yesterday and observed that material had been reduced at site but not to our satisfaction.’’ Victorian Coroner Darren Bracken has announced he will conduct an investigation into the blaze and would visit the scene on Friday afternoon. The coroner is already investigating a toxic blaze in West Footscray that burnt in late August and early September amid concerns it was deliberately lit to destroy evidence the building was being used to illegally store hundreds of barrels of dangerous waste chemicals.

A coroner can investigate a fire, regardless of whether a person has died. It will be the coroner's job to find the cause of the fire. Opposition leader Bill Shorten told radio station 3AW "more eyeballs" were needed on waste operators, because there were "too many cowboys" in the industry which was "too unregulated". Community groups in areas where industrial estates run up against suburban streets are getting increasingly angry about repeated warehouse fires. Sue Vittori, of the Friends of Cruickshank Park community group said dangerous factories and storage facilities should not be anywhere near residential areas. "These chemical time-bombs [should be] moved well away from all urban areas and into specially zoned cluster precincts," she said.

Mr Wells said locals had every right to be angry at operators for not complying with the regulations. ‘‘I think the community should be upset, it is on these duty holders to operate properly in the communities in which they operate, they have a social licence they need to maintain and this is not intact for this operator.’’ There are 700 licences currently active across Victoria. On Friday Premier Daniel Andrews told reporters the government was ready to make changes if they were needed as a result of the blaze.

Authorities are expected to remain on the scene for several days. Credit:Paul Jeffers ‘‘If there is improvement that can come from the experience of this fire of course we stand ready, in partnership with our emergency services, to make whatever changes we need to make,’’ he said. ‘But this is not a suspicious fire.’’ Mr Andrews said there had been a ‘‘real blitz’’ recently with WorkSafe and the EPA conducting more inspections of potentially dangerous sites. ‘‘They have sadly found some places of concern.’’ The Premier said an ‘‘enormous" number of checks had been carried out to ensure rules were being followed.

Environment Minister Lily D’Ambrosio said the EPA had been handed stronger powers to prevent toxic disasters, which would kick in next year. Ms D’Ambrosio said emergency services agencies had acted quickly to contain the fire to the site and bring it under control. ‘‘There’s been a really good collaborative approach right across agencies and they’ll continue to work together.’’ Dr Andrea Hinwood, chief environmental scientist with the EPA, said they had been monitoring smoke and they had picked up elevated smoke levels south of the factory.

‘‘The good news is the levels are very low. So even though we saw a big plume the levels are good. "The only thing we are saying though is that the fire water that’s gone into Merri creek ... does have some volatile organics, that means they’ve got a smell associated with the water. "We will be doing some monitoring in that area but we would like people to stay away from the creek.’’