Up to 16 firefighters spent more than two hours on Christmas Day battling a fire at a Whangarei timber mill that threatened to put hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of expensive timber up in smoke.
Whangarei Fire Service Senior Station Officer Brad Cunningham said firefighters were called to the Carter Holt Harvey Kiwi Timber Company yard in Union East St just after 9am on Christmas Day after a fire started in the yard's boiler room.
Mr Cunningham said a wall in the boiler room was "pretty much destroyed" by the flames, but "good luck" meant a neighbouring building containing many tonnes of expensive timber was saved.
"I think they'll have to rebuild the wall though," Mr Cunningham said.
He said the fire started in a wall in the boiler room, making it difficult for firefighters to get to the flames. Large sheets of extremely hot corrugated iron had to be ripped from the walls so water could be put inside to fight the flames. At its peak four fire appliances, each with four crew members on board, were at the scene.