Locals were shocked to find a busy street in the centre of Sydney smothered by a massive pile of rubbish.
Garbage truck drivers were forced to dump the rubbish in Haymarket after they noticed smoke furling from the rear of the vehicle on Monday afternoon.
Jumping into action, the drivers offloaded the rubbish on Hay St, obstructing light rail tracks and afternoon traffic.
However, dumping the rubbish did not help extinguish the blaze.
Instead, the fire reignited, sending smoky fumes into the air.
Firefighters were called to the inner-city street at about 3.20pm after the pile continued to smoulder.
“We attempted to put the fire out initially, which we thought we had done and left the scene, only to later find out we had to come back because there was a deep smouldering fire,” a Fire Rescue NSW spokesman told Nine News.
They doused the rubbish with water and sorted the waste back into industrial bins for removal.
The street was obstructed for more than an hour as the City of Sydney Council and the Roads and Maritime Service finished clearing the street just before 5pm.
The L1 Central to Dulwich Hill light rail line between Haymarket and the International Convention Centre was unable to run during this time.
NCA NewsWire has contacted the City of Sydney Council for comment.
