Firefighters at the Seeka coolstore on Rangiuru Rd, near Te Puke, this morning. Photo/John Borren
The fire which destroyed a kiwifruit coolstore overnight has been described as "massive", "crazy" and "really scary" by residents who at first thought their home was on fire.
Greer Herbert, 19, had been driving home to Rangiuru Rd late last night when she saw "this massive black cloud".
Miss Herbert said she thought it was her home on fire at first.
Watch CCTV footage here of how a fire destroyed a Tauranga business earlier this month.
Miss Herbert lives a couple of hundred metres from the Oakside post-harvest coolstore operated by Seeka.
"There were three fire trucks there. They guys were just getting out of their trucks when we got there. By the end of the night there were about 12 trucks there," she said.
Miss Herbert said the roof crumbled, then the sides began caving in.
"There were lots of explosions," she said.
"It were a forklift on fire. It was just massive. It was crazy. It was really scary."
Other residents described the fire as huge.
No one was hurt in the blaze, which burned for several hours. Firefighters were still dampening it down at 9am today.
The cause of the fire is unknown.
It were a forklift on fire. It was just massive. It was crazy. It was really scary.
In a statement released this morning, Seeka stated no kiwiberry fruit had been lost to the fire, which destroyed the North Shed component.
However, "approximately 250k trays of capacity is significantly affected".
The shed was typically used later in the season for quality checking and repacking fruit prior to dispatch. It was also used for forklift storage.
Seeka stated the main pack-house, forecourt, curing canopy, and rear coolstores were all unaffected by the incident.
"The central coolstores are partially affected to the extent of some damage to a common wall that is adjacent to the North Shed," the statement said.
Oakside is expected to process more than 9m class 1 trays of kiwifruit at its Oakside site in 2015 out of a total Seeka handled volume of more than 24m trays.
While kiwiberry is being processed on site, no fruit has been affected by the fire and the processing operation and equipment is now being reviewed to assess if it can stay on site or be moved to an alternate site.
In the statement Seeka expressed gratitude to the fire service whose "quick and responsive action of the fire service has successfully averted a far bigger disaster".
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