Excavators called in to shift burning rubbish at Brisbane factory fire

A Brisbane recycling factory remains ablaze since Wednesday afternoon, with heavy machinery called in to shift the burning rubbish and allow firefighters to attack remaining hotspots.

Seven crews remained at the Hemmant fire in the city’s east on Thursday and morning rain helped dampen smoke in the area, a Queensland Fire and Emergency Services spokeswoman said.

The rain also helped with firefighting efforts, but crews were having trouble hitting the base of the flames with water because of piles of compressed cardboard, plastic and paper.

The Gosport Street factory contains about 20,000 cubic metres of recycled material, which went up in flames just after 2pm on Wednesday and is expected to burn for several days.