Whanganui Chronicle
  • Whanganui Chronicle home
  • Latest news
  • Sport
  • Business
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
  • Property
  • Death notices
  • Classifieds

Subscriptions

  • Herald Premium
  • Viva Premium
  • The Listener
  • BusinessDesk

Sections

  • Latest news
  • On The Up
  • Sport
  • Business
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
  • Property
    • All Property
    • Residential property listings
  • Rural
    • All Rural
    • Dairy farming
    • Sheep & beef farming
    • Horticulture
    • Animal health
    • Rural business
    • Rural life
    • Rural technology

Locations

  • Taranaki
  • National Park
  • Whakapapa
  • Ohakune
  • Raetihi
  • Taihape
  • Marton
  • Feilding
  • Palmerston North

Media

  • Video
  • Photo galleries
  • Today's Paper - E-Editions
  • Photo sales
  • Classifieds

Weather

  • New Plymouth
  • Whanganui
  • Palmertson North
  • Levin

NZME Network

  • Advertise with NZME
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • BusinessDesk
  • Newstalk ZB
  • Sunlive
  • ZM
  • The Hits
  • Coast
  • Radio Hauraki
  • The Alternative Commentary Collective
  • Gold
  • Flava
  • iHeart Radio
  • Hokonui
  • Radio Wanaka
  • iHeartCountry New Zealand
  • Restaurant Hub
  • NZME Events

SubscribeSign In
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Home / Whanganui Chronicle

Rural Whanganui fire probably spontaneous combustion

Laurel Stowell
By Laurel Stowell
Reporter·Whanganui Chronicle·
29 Oct, 2019 04:00 PM2 mins to read

Subscribe to listen

Access to Herald Premium articles require a Premium subscription. Subscribe now to listen.
Already a subscriber?  Sign in here

Listening to articles is free for open-access content—explore other articles or learn more about text-to-speech.
‌
Save

    Share this article

A fire in sawdust and organic material on a Longacre Rd farm tied up firefighters for five hours. Photo / Gavin Pryce

A fire in sawdust and organic material on a Longacre Rd farm tied up firefighters for five hours. Photo / Gavin Pryce

The mixture of composting material and strong wind was the probable cause of a deep-seated fire on a rural Whanganui farm.

Firefighters were called to the farm in Longacre Rd at 1.23pm on October 25. Two Whanganui crews went, with the Whanganui rural fire force and the Koitiata fire crew, acting principal rural fire officer Gavin Pryce said.

They found a large pile of mixed sawdust, branches and other organic material on fire, with flames 1m high in places. It was fanned by a strong westerly wind and a lot of smoke was going up into the power pylons overhead.

Really dense smoke can conduct electricity and cause arcing. A Transpower representative was called in case the power had to be isolated - but the smoke diminished in time.

The fire was up to a metre deep in places, and a contractor with a digger was called in.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

"He worked alongside us to open up and turn over the sawdust and organic materials so that we could get our hoses and a good amount of water in through all of that."

Getting enough water was a problem until firefighters managed to pump from a farm pond 300m down a hill.

About 16 people fought the fire for its most intense two hours, Pryce said.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

"It was quite physically demanding for the crews, working in the wind, and some of it on a steep slope."

The last crew left about 7pm.

The fire was probably caused by spontaneous combustion. Decomposing material within the heap got to ignition point, with extra oxygen supplied by the wind.

A fire in a commercial composting operation at Balgownie in Whanganui a few years ago had the same cause, and took about six weeks to finally put out.

Discover more

Fire devastates house in Harper St

22 Oct 06:00 AM

Fire crews called to blaze in Marton

25 Oct 03:31 AM

Traffic delays around Turakina

24 Oct 08:02 PM

New tanker 'could save a house' - rural fire officer says

29 Oct 04:00 PM

Such fires need to be attacked early, Pryce said.

"It can be long and tedious work and you have got to be quite thorough."

Save

    Share this article

Latest from Whanganui Chronicle

Whanganui Chronicle

Chaos as Ruapehu council rejects officials' advice on water

10 Jul 03:15 AM
Whanganui Chronicle

Strong winds bring weather warning and watches

10 Jul 03:00 AM
Whanganui Chronicle

'Values-led' construction company takes top prize at Māori Business Awards

10 Jul 01:00 AM

From early mornings to easy living

sponsored
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Latest from Whanganui Chronicle

Chaos as Ruapehu council rejects officials' advice on water

Chaos as Ruapehu council rejects officials' advice on water

10 Jul 03:15 AM

The officials' recommendation was estimated to save the community $40 million.

Strong winds bring weather warning and watches

Strong winds bring weather warning and watches

10 Jul 03:00 AM
'Values-led' construction company takes top prize at Māori Business Awards

'Values-led' construction company takes top prize at Māori Business Awards

10 Jul 01:00 AM
Whanganui missing child safe and well

Whanganui missing child safe and well

10 Jul 12:05 AM
Solar bat monitors uncover secrets of Auckland’s night sky
sponsored

Solar bat monitors uncover secrets of Auckland’s night sky

NZ Herald
  • About NZ Herald
  • Meet the journalists
  • Newsletters
  • Classifieds
  • Help & support
  • Contact us
  • House rules
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of use
  • Competition terms & conditions
  • Our use of AI
Subscriber Services
  • Whanganui Chronicle e-edition
  • Manage your print subscription
  • Manage your digital subscription
  • Subscribe to Herald Premium
  • Subscribe to the Whanganui Chronicle
  • Gift a subscription
  • Subscriber FAQs
  • Subscription terms & conditions
  • Promotions and subscriber benefits
NZME Network
  • Whanganui Chronicle
  • The New Zealand Herald
  • The Northland Age
  • The Northern Advocate
  • Waikato Herald
  • Bay of Plenty Times
  • Rotorua Daily Post
  • Hawke's Bay Today
  • Viva
  • NZ Listener
  • Newstalk ZB
  • BusinessDesk
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • iHeart Radio
  • Restaurant Hub
NZME
  • NZME Events
  • About NZME
  • NZME careers
  • Advertise with NZME
  • Digital self-service advertising
  • Book your classified ad
  • Photo sales
  • © Copyright 2025 NZME Publishing Limited
TOP