Packhouse fire exposes need for on-site water

IN ACTION: The fire service at the scene of Seeka's Oakside packhouse on Rangiuru Rd on Wednesday night.PHOTO/JOHN BORREN

The Fire Service will be taking a more proactive approach to rural fire risks after it was revealed the blaze which destroyed part of Seeka's Oakside packhouse could have been extinguished a lot sooner if firefighters had access to an on-site water supply.

Grave concerns held by the New Zealand Fire Service around inadequate water supplies to fight fires in large rural packhouses and coolstore complexes came true this week.

Fire Service Bay of Plenty coast assistant area manager Graeme Easton said relying on water tankers had "significantly delayed" extinguishing Wednesday night's fire. He was the controller at the fire which destroyed a large shed used for quality checking and repacking fruit.

The fire, which took about two hours to bring under control, coincidentally happened after Mr Easton told a recent meeting of the Western Bay Rural Fire Authority that rural packhouse complexes were at risk of being destroyed because of inadequate water supplies for firefighting.

He told the meeting that rural coolstore and packhouse complexes were becoming so large that the Fire Service had "grave concerns" it could lead to the total loss of property, or an even worse situation.

Interviewed yesterday, Mr Easton said the Oakside fire was an example of the issues he raised at the meeting. Inadequate on-site water supplies had "significantly delayed the extinguishing of the fire ... I could take you to 10 complexes in the Western Bay where we would have the same sorts of issues."

The Fire Service's recommended code of practice for fire fighting water supplies had been adopted by Tauranga but not the Western Bay District Council.

"We will be taking a more proactive approach with cool store and packhouse property owners," he said.

Mr Easton said once all six water tankers were rolling at the Oakside fire it wasn't too bad, but it was the time it took to get them all there. The first tanker came from Te Puke but it took up to 40m for the rest to arrive from Ngongotaha, Edgecumbe, Rotoehu, Katikati and Greerton.

They had to be refilled at the hydrant at Waitangi.

Te Puke's chief fire officer Glenn Williams said it was the second big fire at the packhouse. Since he was appointed fire chief nine years ago he had been making it clear there was not enough water at Oakside to fight a fire.

Despite the difficulties, Mr Williams said firefighters had been pretty pleased at what they were able to save.

Seeka chief executive Michael Franks said access to firefighting water would be included in their review of the fire.

They had been contemplating installing a water reservoir as part of Oakside's site development. The building had alarms installed so the Te Puke brigade was on the road before the first 111 call came through.

The building did not have a sprinkler system and the cause of the fire was still being investigated.

Western Bay Mayor Ross Paterson said the cost to the council would be prohibitive to provide mains water to all the packhouses scattered through rural areas. He wanted new packhouse developments built on industrial-zoned land.