A fierce factory fire has ripped through a construction-equipment supplies business and an adjoining premises in Yarraville, sending thick smoke across the western suburbs and triggering a large-scale emergency response.
Fire Rescue Victoria crews were called to the warehouse complex at 290 Whitehall Street, Yarraville on the corner of Minnie Street, just after 7pm on Monday 25 August 2026.
Firefighters arrived to find the construction clothing business and a neighbouring business engulfed in flames. The response was quickly escalated to a second alarm as additional resources were urgently required.
Wearing breathing apparatus, firefighters initially entered the warehouse to mount an internal attack on the blaze. But escalating concerns about the structure’s stability forced crews to retreat, with the roof of the construction supplies business understood to have collapsed soon afterwards.
Two aerial firefighting appliances were then positioned outside the danger zone, directing powerful streams of water down onto the burning complex from above.
Adjoining businesses, including a nearby gym, were evacuated as smoke thickened and the fire intensified. Authorities issued a community notice warning residents and businesses of large amounts of smoke affecting the area.
After more than three hours of sustained firefighting, crews brought the blaze under control at about 10.25pm. No injuries were reported.
A fire duty was established overnight, with firefighters remaining at the scene to extinguish remaining fire, cool hot spots and monitor the damaged structures using the TIC [Thermal Imaging Camera]. A section of Whitehall Street near the warehouse remains closed to traffic.
The cause of the fire has not been determined. Detectives from the Maribyrnong Crime Investigation Unit attended the scene on Tuesday 25 August 2026, alongside specialist fire investigators.
Fire Investigation Unit investigators from FIU-Golf were requested after crews at the scene were unable to establish a cause. However, the council’s municipal building surveyor deemed factories 1, 2 and 3 unsafe to enter, preventing investigators from conducting their usual internal examination.
Specialist Fire Rescue Victoria drone capability, Remotely Piloted Aircraft Systems [RPAS-2], was subsequently ordered to attend so the extent of the destruction could be assessed from the air before personnel are cleared to enter the hazardous site. 
Peak Hour Images chief crime reporter and famous photographer Lord Murray Schoorman arrived at the scene before the fire investigators and RPAS team. Photographs accompanying this report have been published with the commercial permission of Peak Hour Images.
