Emergency services were called to the Wollongong hospital precinct on Saturday afternoon to investigate a construction site blast.
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Fire and Rescue crews, along with police, responded after residents in Loftus Street reported “loud explosions, strong shaking of buildings and the smell of gas” about 2pm.
The cause of the incident was quickly traced to a construction site on Parkinson Street, about 150 metres away, where a controlled blast had been taking place.
There were initial reports that “rock projectiles” had breached the blast’s safety lines.
Residents who are regularly evacuated from their homes to allow the controlled blasts at the site to take place said this weekend’s explosion had been “much worse” than previous ones.
One woman, who did not wish to be named, said she was sitting outside Wollongong Hospital with her Labrador, Ocean, when pieces of debris landed nearby.
Inspector John Hawes, from Fire and Rescue NSW, said the blast had not gone wrong, but had hit an unusual seam of rock which had caused it to blow out sideways, instead of straight down.
“There was nothing that went wrong with the blast, it was constructed in the correct manner,”
“It just appears that the blast has hit a fault line in the sub-surface rock which has caused the blast to blow out sideways.”
He said construction crews had been blasting at the site – which is being developed into a multi-storey apartment building – at regular intervals since last October without any incidents.
“I’m not aware of any rock debris being project from the site, but Safe Work NSW are on the site and a prohibition ban is in place until the geological engineers have re-inspected,” Insp Hawes said.
“There have been no reports of any injuries, and the people who were doing the basting on site are consummate professionals with all the necessary safety [precautions].”