Sydney - Xinhua
A huge fire broke out at a state- owned power station in the Hunter Valley in Australia\'s New South Wales (NSW) on Friday morning, authorities said on Friday. The fire broke out inside a generator at one of the Eraring power station near Newcastle about 2:30 a.m. (local time) on Friday. When firefighters arrived, the generator, which contained about 8,000 liters of transformer oil, was fully alight, the Sydney Morning Herald reported. More than 50 firefighters from NSW Fire and Rescue have been battling to stop the cooling oil leaking into Lake Macquarie. NSW Energy Minister Chris Hartcher said the power station fire could cost the state-owned power company Eraring Energy about 20 million AU dollars (26.37 million U.S. dollars). He said a \"shimmer\" of cooling oil had been detected in nearby Lake Macquarie, however, it did not pose a risk to the surrounding environment. Eraring Energy spokeswoman Rochelle Reynolds said no one was injured in the fire and an investigation to determine the cause of the fire would be conducted.