Case Study: Queensland Coal Export Terminal prevents fire and avoids downtime with Xtralis VESDA VLS

Queensland Coal Export Terminal - Customer Case Study

At one of Queensland’s largest multi-commodity ports, a smouldering electrical contactor in a switch-room cubicle threatened critical coal export operations. The challenge was to detect a fault inside high-voltage switchgear early enough to prevent fire, equipment damage and production downtime while enabling safe, targeted intervention.

The facility used a VESDA VLS very-early-warning smoke detection system integrated with Inergen gas suppression, with dedicated sample pipes and suppression banks for each HV cubicle. The VLS alarm triggered automatic, localized suppression and alerted Queensland Fire & Rescue, allowing contractors to locate the faulty contactor quickly; a replacement breaker was fitted with no lost production and minimal equipment damage, demonstrating effective early detection and suppression.