International Power Battles Winds at Australian Coal Mine Fire

By Angela Macdonald-Smith

Sept. 16 (Bloomberg) -- International Power Plc, the biggest electricity producer in Australia, said strong winds are hampering efforts by it and the Country Fire Authority to put out a fire burning at a coal mine in Victoria state.

The weather is expected to ease over the next 24 hours, ``providing the opportunity to make good inroads into the fire base,'' International Power's Australian unit said today in an e-mailed statement. The fire is in a disused part of the mine and isn't affecting coal or power supplies at Hazelwood, it said.

The Hazelwood mine and power station are in the Latrobe Valley, 150 kilometers (93 miles) east of Melbourne, Australia's second-largest city. The mine produces about 18 million metric tons of brown coal a year to fuel the 1,675-megawatt power station, according to International Power's Australian Web site.

``Our crews are coordinating very well to prevent this fire from spreading and our efforts are on protecting assets as well,'' Graeme York, chief executive officer of International Power Hazelwood, said in the statement. ``As weather conditions ease, we will be able to attack the fire with specialized equipment provided by the Country Fire Authority.''

There are about 100 Country Fire Authority personnel at the site, alongside International Power employees working to contain the blaze, it said. Firefighters are concentrating on protecting mine infrastructure and preventing the fire spreading to an old mine conveyor, it said.

The fire started mid-afternoon on Sept. 14 and the exact cause isn't known, Jim Kouts, an Adelaide-based spokesman, said in an e-mail. The only financial effect is a ``small'' operational expenditure to assist in the firefighting, he said.

To contact the reporter on this story: Angela Macdonald-Smith in Sydney at amacdonaldsm@bloomberg.net