Update: Fire-fighters to work overnight

A huge fire broke out at the construction site in Barangaroo, sending a pile of smoke about hundreds of meter up in the air. The Sydney Harbour fire forced firefighters to rush to Hickson Road as the basement area of the construction site was reportedly to have been caught by fire around 2 p.m.

A spokesman from the NSW Fire and Rescue told Nine MSN their crews saw "large volumes of smoke" when they arrived at the spot that happens to be under-construction. The fire size was still being investigated at the moment. No fewer than six trucks were immediately sent to the site to take control of the situation.

Sydney Morning Herald reported firefighters find it extremely difficult to reach the actual spot where the fire originated due to extreme heat coming off the basement. That is why the fire is yet to be determined. If nothing is done soon, there is every possibility that a multistory crane at the site may collapse any time now.

According to the authorities and developers of Lend Lease, every worker has been taken off the site to a safe plane. The evacuation was apparently done quite efficiently as there was no injury reported as of now. The buildings situated around the construction site have also been evacuated at the moment.

Over a hundred firefighters and 20 trucks are working onsite. The trucks are pumping gallons of water from surrounding streets and extinguishing the fire. The main priority now is to target the bottom part of the crane that has been burning since 2 p.m. According to the recent update, 2,000 office workers and 500 site workers have been evacuated from nearby buildings.

Fire and Rescue spokesman Ian Krimmer said the crane is at complete risk of collapsing if it continued to be exposed to heat. The 25-storey high crane may damage surrounding areas if it collapses, he stressed.