A massive blaze on Friday at an industrial waste site outside Melbourne caught fire four times last year and was subject to a fire plan that identified a "huge amount" of fuel present.

About 100 firefighters and a water-bombing helicopter worked to bring the blaze under control.

The CFA said that the fire was about 100 metres wide and 10 metres high and was likely to burn "all day – if not for several days".

Fairfax Media can also report that Eugene Skilar — the former main operator of the commercial site — was fined $59,000 this week on charges that included failing to comply with orders not to add more waste to the land.

Skilar, who pleaded guilty and was convicted of the charges, was prosecuted by Hume City Council after a tribunal found last March that he and others had used the land in breach of planning scheme requirements.

Prosecutor Mat Sherwell told Broardmeadows Magistrates Court that the CFA had warned about waste stored on the land and the risk of fire before a large blaze took hold last December that was attended by the CFA, MFB and police.

When Skilar appeared on Monday unrepresented, Mr Sherwell said that fire temporarily shut down the Hume Highway and took 50,000 litres of water to put out.

He said Skilar continued to use the site for recycling until last May when the landowner exercised its rights and locked him out.

A member of the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal (VCAT) who inspected the Somerton site found waste mounds so high to be "visually prominent" from viewing points and a "visual blight" that adversely impacted the local neighbourhood.

The VCAT member, Philip Martin, said that a large fire started there in September last year when stored waste ignited with "dramatic and alarming" photographs showing flames leaping high above mounds.

Mr Martin, who noted there were other fires there months earlier, said that since about April, 2014, "exceptionally large" amounts of commercial and organic waste had been taken there and burnt at very high temperatures.

Mr Sherwell, for the council, applied to VCAT for an order that the actions of Skilar, Ecotec Woodwaste Pty Ltd, Christopher Smith and Ecotec Resource Recovery Pty Ltd in storing, sorting and burning large amounts of commercial and organic waste and associated earth works required planning permission which had not been obtained.

CFA endeavour to control the fire at an industrial waste site in Somerton Photo: Eddie Jim

After Mr Sherwell lodged an application for an enforcement order, Mr Martin in January this year made an interim order about "fire risks" while at a later hearing the respondents argued no planning breach had occurred.

It was not disputed, Mr Martin said, that the fire management plan described the waste mound in one photo as "massive" with a "huge amount of available fuel in close proximity on the site ..."

The respondents argued there was no connection to the September fire and activities on the land, but Mr Martin found their case that the blaze started from abutting oxi-cutting activities lacked "credibility and carries little weight".

They also argued that the land was used for "refuse disposal", but he found the correct characterisation was "materials recycling".

Mr Martin said the evidence of a representative of the Honda Group, a nearby neighbour, noted the concerns of "anxious' staff about the September fire and smoke problems.

Although he did not formally rely on it, he said the fires "exacerbated the normal fire management risks" in the area and caused a "major spike in 'fire anxiety' for Honda staff and visitors and that that alone constituted an "adverse amenity impact on the neighbourhood".

"The operations of Ecotec Woodwaste have an inherently high risk of fire due to the huge amount of available fuel in close proximity" to the sites, he said, and the presence of a machine that "possibly emits embers and is a source of heat capable of igniting fuel in an uncontrolled manner during its operation".

The landowner, Karam Investments Pty Ltd, sought to be excluded from any remedial orders, but Mr Martin said steps it took were "too little, too late".

He noted that the council had advised the respondents since May last year it considered their activities to be unlawful.