Boiling oil fuels huge factory fire

The fire is believed to have caused $60 million of damage to the Laminex Group plant.

Firefighters battled an inferno at Taupo's Laminex Group manufacturing plant on Monday night where temperatures reached more than 1000C.

The fire was helped by a mixture of chemicals, boiling oil and highly explosive particle board dust.

Early estimates put the property damage at about $60 million, mainly around the plant's press area.

Damage will take months to repair, and it is thought more than 100 jobs could be affected.

Taupo man Daniel Hooper, whose father works at the plant, said he and his father went down to look at the fire 90 minutes after it began.

"It was just crazy.

"It was huge - the top blew off the top of the press.

"There were heaps of ambulances and fire trucks everywhere. The blaze was massive."

Laminex Group is one of Taupo's biggest employers and includes a particle board plant and an MDF (medium density fibreboard) plant.

The particle board plant was unaffected, said Australasian plant manager Alan McKinna.

"At the moment we're just concentrating on briefing our employees and customers about what's going to happen."

He declined to say what plans the company had.

Dozens of firefighters battled for seven hours to bring the fire under control, with crews from as far away as Rotorua and Hamilton called in.

As late as yesterday afternoon, nearly 24 hours later, fire crews were still dampening down hotspots. Fire safety officers will monitor the situation for a few more days.

Rotorua chief fire officer Wayne Bedford said the drama unfolded about 7pm.

Twenty-eight employees were on site, with about six workers inside the press area. All escaped the blaze.

One theory about how the fire started was that a hydraulic hose ruptured, spraying hot oil around the press area. Because of the high temperatures inside the plant the oil was easily ignited.

Several dust explosions may have caused the fire to spread quickly through the rest of the building.

A former production manager from the industry said it was common for dust to gather quickly on the rafters, above the level of the sprinklers.

Fletcher Building's laminates and panels division chief executive, David Worley, said the plant was likely to be out of action for some months.