KEY POINTS:
Hundreds of people have been forced to evacuate from Patea in Taranaki as toxic smoke from a fire at the town's old freezing works is blown towards their homes.
The fire started shortly before midnight yesterday at the derelict freezing works which contains a large amount of asbestos.
South westerly winds this morning have driven the smoke towards homes in the small Taranaki township.
Police, Fire and Civil Defence officials met this early this morning and made the call to evacuate those close to the blaze.
"Asbestos is a highly toxic substance depending on what type it is. Usually in freezing works, for pipe lagging (insulation) and so on, they used blue asbestos and that's particularly nasty.
"That's the one that can cause you problems with your respiratory system," central fire communications shift manager Murray Dunbar said.
Civil defence spokesman Peter Ledingham said a welfare centre had been set up in a sports hall at Hawera, about 30 minutes drive from Patea.
Buses were being organised for anyone who did not have their own transport.
"People have started to arrive at the welfare centre now and are having a few cups of tea," he said.
Mr Ledingham said there had been no reports of anyone affected by the smoke and he believed the evacuation was precautionary.
It was not known when residents will be safe to return home and evacuees have been advised to pack overnight bags.
State Highway 3 which runs past the freezing works and through the town is still open but people are advised to avoid it, or at the very least to keep their windows up.
Fire crews arrived last night to find two large buildings and an area of scrub well alight.
"There's currently eight [trucks] and we've got crews from Patea and the surrounding volunteer brigades," central fire communications shift manager Murray Dunbar said.
"They reckon the fire will probably burn for a few days,"
South Taranaki District Council communications manager Gerard Langford said today's Waitangi Day Paepae in the Park celebration at Patea had been cancelled.
The district council had been investigating how much contamination there was around the freezing works. Mr Langford said there had been much public debate over whether this indicated they were going to knock it down which was now rendered rather immaterial.
He said the buildings were on private land and the owners would likely be turning to the council for help with the clean up.
"You would be talking about a significant amount of money."
Mr Dunbar said crews today were mostly concerned about containing the scrub fire behind the buildings.
"It's fairly dry up there. We've had problems with scrub fires in the week up to this."
Helicopters may be called in later today.
It is not yet known how the fire started. Fire safety officers are expected to investigate once it is out.
- NZPA
