ABC News:
Petrol tanker blast investigation continuesAuthorities are investigating the cause of a petrol tanker fire in the Perth suburb of Maddington.
A rupture in a compartment of the tanker sparked a blaze which burnt through about 15,000 litres of fuel.
The fire spread to a nearby petrol station and shop on Albany Highway, forcing the evacuation of people within 500 metres of the blaze.
Local roads were closed for up to 10 hours during the clean up.
That involved transferring the remaining fuel to a second tanker, pumping fuel out of drains which lead to the Canning River, and mopping up.
20 Fire and Emergency Service firefighters remained at the scene overnight.
FESA spokesman Alan Gale says the blaze caused a significant amount of damage.
"The damage certainly to the rear of the tanker itself is fairly substantial, but probably more so to the building," he said.
"All the front driveway and canopy is extensively damaged."
Mark Brunt works opposite the petrol station and saw the explosion.
"I went and got a bit closer and could see everyone was bailing out of the servo and some guy was yelling 'Get out, get out' and yeah, this fire was just taking off," he said.
ABC News:
Perth tanker explosion causes $2m damagePerth authorities say the explosion of a petrol tanker has caused an estimated $2 million damage and left a clean up bill of $500,000.
The arson squad is investigating the fire which broke out in a tanker at a service station in Maddington yesterday afternoon.
Fifteen thousand litres of fuel was lost and it took authorities 14 hours to clear the site.
The Department of Environment and Conservation is pumping out drains which lead to the nearby Canning River.
Paul Hughes from Fire and Emergency Services Authority says the drains have been blocked and pumped in an effort to stop the fuel reaching the waterway.
He says the clean up bill is estimated at half a million dollars.
"The Department of Environment and Conservation are working with the Swan River Trust to make sure that is mitigated, because obviously they don't want any more pollutants than they need to to enter any water," he said.
