Yes, A Building Exploded In Circular Quay, But There’s No Need To Panic
People caught the explosions on camera, though, and it's really something.
A ten-storey building in Circular Quay caught fire this morning and also exploded a few times, in a pretty dramatic start to Tuesday in Sydney’s CBD.
So far, there are no reports of injuries, and the fire is now under control, but the footage circulating on social media from earlier this morning is pretty dramatic. This bloke caught one of the explosions on camera, and sums it up pretty well via voiceover. Holy fuck indeed.
#circularquay view of explosion taken from across the road. pic.twitter.com/vQgEDoNCqH
— Fenolaman (@Charlesford) February 12, 2018
Here’s more video of the fire, which appears to be mostly in the protective scaffolding on the building. The area is, thankfully, a demolition site, so no one was in it except for construction crews, who were evacuated by the fire service.
Building behind circular quay on fire .. this is how it started ! Could have contained it if the firies were here early ! #circularquay pic.twitter.com/zVAU91S2Du
— MeeraS (@Kuruvee) February 12, 2018
Major fire at #circularquay #sydney … pic.twitter.com/y4CR2ZJPHb
— Olivia (@LivCadoni) February 12, 2018
Something is on fire at Circular Quay… tad scary. Helicopters are circling. #Sydney pic.twitter.com/uT2oBloZrY
— Vanessa Hartley (@nessclick) February 12, 2018
Fire on building site in Sydney CBD. Hope all safe #fire #sydney pic.twitter.com/KX5iWvKqCy
— Louise Davidson (@Louisedavidson) February 12, 2018
No one is sure how the fire started yet, but people working in the area reported hearing a number of other small explosions from the site this morning. The blaze caused trains and buses to Circular Quay and nearby stations to be cancelled, and nearby buildings including the Marriott Hotel were evacuated. Public transport has since resumed, though it’s a bit delayed in the area.
Anyway, good work from local fire crews, who got the situation under control pretty quickly given the size of the flames.
SYDNEY CBD | #FRNSW crews have contained a large building fire in Pitt St. Firefighters are still at work and ops continue.
— Fire & Rescue NSW (@FRNSW) February 12, 2018
You can see more footage of the fire on Snapchat, of all places — the dying platform’s map feature has actually captured a pretty good collection of videos from the scene. You can see that here, if you’d like.
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Feature image via Liv Cadoni and Louise Davidson on Twitter