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The lives of dozens of firefighters were put in jeopardy after warnings were not passed on to front-line crews that one of the stateâs biggest e-waste recyclers was dangerously overstocked before the factory erupted into a massive industrial blaze in 2020.
The incident has sparked a feud between the Environment Protection Authority and Fire Rescue Victoria, with both agencies providing contradictory accounts of what information was shared about safety conditions at MRI e-cycle solutions before the fire broke out.
Firefighters battle the blaze at e-waste facility MRI E-Cycle on August 9
Credit:Chris Hopkins
The environmental watchdog has a been accused of putting the interests of business ahead of the safety of emergency services personnel by failing to shut down the troubled recycling operation despite detecting serious breaches of its licence over almost a year before the fire.