Firefighters contain firewood plant

A kiln used by a Napier firewood merchant was badly damaged in a fire which resulted in a major, mainly precautionary call-out of fire services in Napier and Hastings yesterday.

The fire at an Awatoto plant operated by SuperSplit Firewood was reported at 6.47am by a passerby who noticed smoke coming from the building, the older part of a complex best known as the 1950s and 1960s nightspot the Cabaret Cabana, later the Polynesian Palace, and more recently The Seahorse Farm, which closed in 2006.

The building is on the seaward side of State Highway 2, backing on to the Rotary Pathway on the foreshore.

Fire Service assistant area commander Gavin Travers said the fire was largely under control and confined to the kiln soon after the arrival of the first appliance.

But the emergency was elevated to a third alarm because of the amount of wood in the dryer and the manpower needed to ensure the fire was extinguished, and the presence of asbestos as a risk to public safety if particles became airborne.

Appliances, tankers and crews were used from the Napier, Hastings, Taradale, Bay View and Haumoana brigades, involving about 25 Fire Service and volunteer firefighters.

There was a short disruption for traffic on the highway and for dawn strollers and joggers on the pathway until the risks were alleviated, but it was not until about 11.30am that the last of the fire crews was able to leave. SuperSplit Firewood director Craig Bryant, who bought the site from a liquidator about a year ago said the fire, possibly caused by an electrical or lighting fault, wouldn't seriously disrupt the business.

It was near the end of the firewood season, no machinery was damaged, and the part of the complex where it happened was an older section thought to have been built 70-80 years ago and is due to be demolished over the next few months."

"And we've still got 500 cords of dry firewood," he said.

The company is working with the Department of Labour in relation to the asbestos sheeting, a common cladding material of the building's era, and plans to remove any which is a potential threat.