Barangaroo firefighters work through night

Firefighters have made their way into a basement fire at Sydney's Barangaroo construction site. Source: AAP

FIREFIGHTERS will work through the night at Sydney's Barangaroo construction site, where a major blaze forced the evacuation of about 2500 workers and brought peak hour traffic to a standstill.

The basement fire broke out around 2pm (AEDT) on Wednesday and threatened the collapse of a multi-storey crane.

"We're still trying to get the fire extinguished," NSW Fire and Rescue Superintendent Ian Krimmer told AAP on Wednesday night.

"We've got crews in the basement area and it's only once we get that fire out that the engineers can go in."

Officials were reluctant to speculate about how long the Barangaroo precinct would remain in lockdown but Supt Krimmer said dousing the flames would likely take several hours.

Some 100 firefighters were at the site and preparing to work into the early hours of Thursday morning, pumping water into the seat of the fire.

The thick plumes of smoke visible earlier on Wednesday had dissipated but an acrid smell hung in the air near the fire site at nightfall on Wednesday.

The Ambulance Service of NSW has warned that vulnerable people in smoke-affected areas - the elderly, very young and those with respiratory conditions such as asthma - should consider staying indoors.

Fears that the fire-damaged crane could topple forced the closure of several city roads including the usually-bustling Western Distributor, plunging much of the inner city into gridlock on Wednesday evening.

The Transport Management Centre has warned that if the Western Distributor remains closed through the Thursday morning peak, commuters will face heavy delays.

"That road will not be reopened until we are given the go-ahead," a spokeswoman told Macquarie Radio on Wednesday evening.

"There would be really, really significant delays, because obviously heading into the city is the peak direction for the mornings ...

"If it is not (open), we would ask people not to drive, to stay right away from that area."

Lasers have been trained onto the 20-storey crane to alert emergency crews to any movement.

Once the blaze is brought under control, structural engineers will be able to assess the damage.

But Lend Lease chief operating officer Dan Labbad said engineers planned to dismantle the crane regardless of the results of the inspection.

Construction, Forestry, Mining and Energy Union assistant state secretary Rob Kera said workers were upset about the blaze.

"We conducted a full audit of the evacuation procedure on this site. To say it was an absolute disgrace is an understatement," he said.

"The men at this point and time are pretty upset, they are pretty devastated."

The Barangaroo area is being redeveloped as a residential and retail hub, with plans for a high-rollers' casino owned by billionaire James Packer.

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